It never feels like good news when showrunners leave a program, but it’s even worse when it’s a particularly good show. Such is the case for Starz’s American Gods, whose first season was widely praised. However, its two showrunners, Michael Green and Bryan Fuller, are both officially leaving the show.
It seems like odd timing, since the show is now working on the scripts for its second season. While the show is based on the book by Neil Gaiman, Green and Fuller created the show and served as executive producers as well as showrunners. There is no state reason why the two left, and Starz has not put out a statement concerning their departure. Starz doesn’t seem like the type to put limits on gorey creativity (they also produce Ash vs. The Evil Dead after all). However, it is likely that this split is due to creative differences or budgetary problems of some kind.
As such, the hunt for a new showrunner is on. Originally rumors were that Gaiman would be stepping in as a co-showrunner but the author dispelled that rumor on his Twitter by saying that he was focusing on showrunning Good Omens before then returning to writing:
No, it's not true at all. I'm showrunning Good Omens in the UK until next year, then retiring from showrunning and going back to writing novels for a living. https://t.co/nsmx7OkLzK
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) November 30, 2017
The good news is that Gaiman also revealed that the show is going forward as planned, so fans need not worry. American Gods would not be the first show to continue without a showrunner — Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle also lost their showrunner before their second season aired but managed to get all the episodes out and was actually good.
American Gods Season 2 was aiming for mid-2018 release but this change may leave the season coming out later in the year.
