Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

On the evening of April 6, journalists were transported to a very different realm, reporting  on the launch of American Gods…

Jack’s Crocodile Bar is a crazy place, situated near Nottamun, and professes to offer the best chilli in the state. It’s where Shadow Moon reacquaints himself with Mr Wednesday and gets into a fight with Mad Sweeney. Oh, and it’s off the Euston Road in Central London. At least, that’s where Amazon Prime Video temporarily relocated it for the launch of their new Neil Gaiman American Gods adaptation, an eight-part first season to be released in weekly instalments from May 1.

Make no mistake, Amazon Prime don’t do things by half. Inside an 1820s converted church they created a dark indoor wood, complete with living shrubs, owl sound and wood chippings, while upstairs the aforementioned Crocodile Bar was recreated in the form of a toothsome head, running the length of the bar area, complete with pool table and Americana trappings. The free popcorn and cocktails, as well as the pressing of a gold coin into your hand on departure (just be careful not to toss into a freshly-dug grave on the way home) all pointed to one thing – Amazon Prime have gone large with the promotion of their new show, airing on Starz in the States, and want it to become your next ‘must watch’.

Series lead Ricky Whittle (Shadow Moon) took to the carpet with Emily Browning (Laura Moon), Bruce Langley (Technology Boy), Ian McShane (Mr Wednesday) and Yetide Bataki (Bilquis).

And then it was off to the main viewing area where we were invited to (literally) take a pew for a screening of the opening episode. We’ll save our episode review until nearer the transmission date; suffice to say that in Neil Gaiman’s video introduction he apologised for all the blood…

Post screening, the stars sat on the stage and answered questions by presenter Alex Zane before taking some from the audience. Carefully avoiding anything spoilerific we can confirm that the female characters have far more to do in the show than in the book, each episode features an introductory ‘Coming to America’ prologue and while the series is faithful to the Gaiman novel, the opportunity has been taken to expand the show. This first season roughly covers the first 1/3 of the book, although timelines are played with.

Yetide Bataki was a huge Neil Gaiman fan prior to securing the role and was intrigued to see how ‘that scene’ with Bilquis would be achieved (McShane chuckled that he might have to explain to his grandson – who was in the audience – just what was going on!) Ricky Whittle was equally delighted to have the opportunity to play the lead role in Gaiman’s opus. Bruce Langley was complimented on the look of his character and distinctive haircut (we’re promised that there’s more to come) and Ricky promised a great season finale which includes content not in the book.

I asked Emily Browning (Sucker Punch) what attracted her to the role of a dead wife, which on the face of it might seem limiting. “I went to lunch with Michael [Green] and Bryan [Fuller] and said to them: “If you tell me ‘she’s the heart and soul of this show’ then I’m out of here.” I’ve had so many meetings like that about ‘the wife’ character. But they said: ‘No, if anything, you’re more like the spleen!’ And I fell in love with her; she’s one of the best, well-written characters I’ve ever read.”

And then it was up to the Crocodile Bar drinks and nibbles. As series launches go, this was a grand affair and hopefully the video arm of the delivery company will find that the response and ratings are just what they ordered. And if not, presumably they can return it within 28 days for a full refund?