American Gods is officially over, ladies and gentlemen: Starz has decided not to renew the fantastical series for a fourth season. And I think most of us can agree that this news isn’t hugely shocking. The show had been losing a lot of viewers with each season and was famously messy during its second season, although the third was its strongest yet.
Season 3 ended with a lot of questions left unanswered. Happily, according to Deadline, there are “discussions” about finishing the story as a TV movie, but given how poorly the series had been doing, I’m not sure how likely it is to happen.
Despite the decreased viewership, there are still die-hard fans out there who would love to see the proper conclusion to this story. The American Gods season 3 finale showed Shadow (Ricky Whittle) standing vigil for his deceased father Odin/Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane). Naturally, Odin double-crossed him and used him as a sacrifice to restore his strength so he could triumph in his war against the New Gods.
It was the perfect set-up for the New Gods vs. Old Gods battle we had been promised for so long, but now we may never get to see what that would have looked like. A Starz spokesperson addressed the cancellation, calling Neil Gaiman’s novel an “ever-relevant story to life that speaks to the cultural climate of our country.” As difficult as it was to watch at times, I am certainly going to miss this show.
American Gods had a difficult run to say the least
Bryan Fuller and Michael Green developed American Gods but left the show during pre-production on season 2, marking the first change in showrunners for the series. Jesse Alexander stepped in with Gaiman himself on board to help, but that was only the start of the drama. Season 2’s difficulties led it to be delayed into 2019. At some point, actor Orlando Jones was cut from the cast, which resulted in a public scandal. But despite the odds stacked against them, American Gods came back with a vengeance and gave us an excellent season 3, with improved story, characters and pacing.
Gods don’t die unless they’re forgotten #believe #AmericanGods #Neilgaiman #ShadowMoon #letsfinishthis pic.twitter.com/qm8sl3cp83
— Ricky Whittle (@MrRickyWhittle) March 30, 2021
The show will be missed, despite its imperfections. But mostly, we are going to miss that beautiful Ricky Whittle on our television screens every Sunday night.
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h/t The A.V. Club