American Gods, the critically acclaimed Starz drama, has just lost both of its showrunners. It was announced on Wednesday that Bryan Fuller and Michael Green, two of the most recognizable names in the industry at the moment, have departed from the series. They cited irreconcilable creative differences with the series producer FremantleMedia as the reason for this decision.
The main issue appears to have been related to budget. Fuller and Green were allegedly fighting for an increased budget for the second season of the series, even though sources attached to the production claim that each episode of American Gods already had a budget for almost $10 million.
As of right now, Starz and FremantleMedia have yet to name a replacement showrunner.
Regardless of what happens with American Gods, this will not be the end of Bryan Fuller or Michael Green. Green is currently working on a project called Raising Dion for Netflix, and is rumored to have other work in the pipeline as well. Fuller, on the other hand, is currently at work creating a series called Amazing Stories for Apple, along with a few other projects, not the least of which is rumored to be the fourth season of Hannibal. Fuller had previously departed from his role as showrunner for Star Trek: Discovery about a year ago.
The expectation was that American Gods season two would premiere at some point in mid-2018 on Starz, but a major shakeup like this casts doubt on the entire situation. Alan Sepinwall, noted critic for Hitfix.com, observed on Twitter that season one “wasn’t perfect, but there’s no point to continuing the show without [Fuller and Green].”
This will likely be the major point of debate among fans going forward. Can another showrunner step in and take over this otherworldly, nightmarish take on Neil Gaiman’s modern classic? Or will this show go down in the annals of series that were cancelled too soon?
