It might be hard to imagine now, but Game of Thrones wasn't a huge pop culture phenomenon from the off – it took a couple of seasons for it to find its audience. American Gods, which starts season two on March 11 on Amazon Prime Video in the UK, could go the same way.
With Thrones wrapping for good in April, fans will need something new to watch, and with George RR Martin's pal Neil Gaiman executive-producing the adaptation of his own fantasy novel, that show could be American Gods.
But do the cast agree that Gods could be the next Thrones? "I know it sounds funny," Ian McShane (Wednesday) told Digital Spy, "but American Gods is a more complicated show."
"I don't think it's going to replace anything," Ricky Whittle (Shadow Moon) said. "I feel it's something completely fresh. When people say it's the next Game of Thrones, I think they mean that it's a big expensive show, it's a monster of a show."
It's also dark, beautiful and deliberately-paced... "I think it's even more beautiful, I really do," Whittle said. "Ian McShane said it right, Game of Thrones is 'tits and dragons'.
"Visually, American Gods is a stunning and unique show, I'd not seen anything like it before. It's great to watch. Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones did take a couple of seasons because they're more layered, they're deeper. They're not procedurals.
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"American Gods is [similarly] going to take a while for people to follow. I feel we set a great foundation in season one with Bryan [Fuller] and Michael [Green, the original showrunners] where we built this world, and we showed you the players. In season two, you know the world, you know the players, now you're invested.”
"Now you want to follow Sweeney (Pablo Schreiber) and Laura (Emily Browning), now you want to follow Bilquis (Yetide Badaki), you want to follow Tech Boy (Bruce Langley), and Mr World (Crispin Glover), and Wednesday and Shadow.
"You want to see more of characters developing these relationships, watching these dynamics evolve, because you care more. Moving on to season three, it'll be the same. Hopefully those bonds get stronger with those characters."
American Gods season 2 returns to Prime Video on Monday, March 11, with new episodes coming to the service weekly.
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Sam is an entertainment writer with NCTJ accreditation and a twenty-year career as a film journalist.
Starting out as a staff writer at Total Film, moving up to Deputy Online Editor, Sam was responsible for Total Film’s YouTube channel, where he revolutionised the magazine’s approach to video junkets, creating influential formats that spread to other outlets.
He’s interviewed a wide range of film icons, including directors such as David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Ridley Scott, Michael Bay and Sam Raimi, as well as actors such as Meryl Streep, Nic Cage, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Anne Hathaway, Margot Robbie, Natalie Portman, Kermit the Frog, all of the Avengers and many more.
Sam has also interviewed several comic creators, including Stan Lee, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, and he has a zombie cameo in The Walking Dead comic.
In 2014, Sam went freelance, working directly for film studios including Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox and Disney, as well as covering red carpet events for film marketing company PMA Productions.
Sam is the co-host, producer and editor of the Arrow Video podcast, which has seen year-on-year growth since its creation in 2017, gaining over half a million listens in that time.
His byline has appeared in outlets such as Yahoo, MTV, Dazed, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Good Housekeeping among others.
In 2012, Sam made it to the final of the Leicester Square Theatre New Comedian of the Year competition, and went on to become a filmmaker himself, directing three features that have all played major festivals, and secured distribution – starring in two of them.
Jim Carrey once mistook Sam for Johnny Cash, and John Carpenter told him to ‘Keep up the good work.’ He promises to try his best.
