Neil Gaiman’s epic Hugo and Nebula-award winning 2001 tale of old versus new gods finally makes it to the small screen courtesy of Bryan Fuller and shows enough flair and promise in its opening hour to reassure fans of the epic novel that we’re in safe hands. Airing on Starz in the United States, it’s released weekly on Amazon Prime Video elsewhere in the world.

At the European premiere of American Gods in London Neil Gaiman apologised via a video pre-record for the blood viewers were about to see. I suspect it was a case of ‘sorry, not sorry’ as the opening scene to the series positively bathes in the crimson stuff. Like a scene from 300 or Spartacus: Blood and Sand, a bunch of Viking explorers find America, only to be attacked by a hail of arrows. It sets the tone of what’s to follow, which witnesses severed limbs and arterial spurts – but all very stylised and bordering on Monty Python. It’s the first of the weekly ‘Coming to America’ interludes, which we’re promised cover different timeframes and film-making styles, each providing an origin tale as to how the non-indigenous Gods established themselves in the then non-United States.

Hopefully the surfeit of gore doesn’t put off too many viewers, as the real story begins in modern times with Shadow Moon (The 100‘s Ricky Whittle with an excellent American accent) getting released early from a prison stretch following a death in the family. What promised to be the chance for a new start has been ripped away from him and the rudderless Moon meets the roguish Mr Wednesday (Ian McShane playing his best Ian McShane) on a plane in what appears to be a chance encounter. However, as with most things in this story, there’s far more going on than meets the eye.

I really don’t want to share any more story points as this world-builder episode spends a lot of time establishing the mythos of Gaiman’s narrative and remains remarkably loyal to the source tome. We’re promised that in later episodes some characters are given far more to do than the book offers them, but it’s reassuring to see that the set-up has not been tampered with, covering just the first two chapters of the novel, as well as the first ‘Somewhere in America’ interlude, a device in the book that introduces a subsidiary god in the current day, getting up to all manner of mayhem.

This first ‘Somewhere in America’ features Bilquis (a wonderful Yetide Badaki), who feeds on love and adoration to keep herself young. Her introductory scene is destined to be the water-cooler moment of this first episode, establishing that this show is prepared to be extreme and go that one step further. Of course, those familiar with showrunner Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal will be familiar with his taste for the macabre and shocking, and while we’re not in quite the same food horror porn territory, there’s also horrific dream sequences to keep the viewer unsettled.

Whittle is excellent as the Shadow – you immediately root for him and sympathise for his predicament. We see the world through his eyes, learning at the same pace as him and sharing the same disbelief and incomprehension as he meets each new god and begins to realise the scale of  the battle that he has unwittingly walked into. While only making brief appearances in this opener, Emily Browning makes an impact as Shadow’s wife Laura, and a bizarrely-coiffed Bruce Langley is Technology Boy, a gadget-rich rich kid in a limo with brutal henchmen.

Ian McShane gets the best laughs in this episode, followed closely by Pablo Schreiber’s Mad Sweeney, challenging our prejudices about leprechauns! It does McShane a disservice to say that he’s in full Ian McShane mode, because he’s actually perfectly cast as Mr Wednesday. Part Lovejoy and part Al Swearengen (Deadwood), McShane is at his best playing a no-nonsense, world-weary old lag who’s seen it all before and knows how to play the game. He’s a perfect foil to Whittle’s Shadow, and this relationship will develop significantly as the duo begin their road trip.

Verdict: As an adaptation of a favourite novel, I cannot fault any of the qualities of this opening episode. Providing just enough back story to give life to the characters, yet setting up the beats and intrigue that will drive the future story, there’s enough invention and spectacle here to thrill both newcomers and those already converted to the church of Gaiman’s deity-fest. Like the buffalo with fiery eyes growls: ‘Believe!’ Amen to that. 9/10

Nick Joy