Writer and all around interesting person Neil Gaiman’s American Gods was optioned by HBO years ago for an adaptation, but Gaiman just dropped some updates about the show’s prospects on his blog. He also read Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham because Neil Gaiman is a beautiful man.
News first, then storytime.
According to Gaiman (who sourced this story from Comic Book Resources, but we heard it from Gaiman’s blog) the option by HBO didn’t work after three attempts. It was passed to Cinemax–still in the HBO family–but they ultimately passed on it. American Gods is now in the hands of Freemantle Media, not HBO. The downside here in Gaiman’s eyes is that Tom Hanks’ Playtone can’t be involved any longer.
There’s no more information than that, and considering how long American Gods has been languishing in production, this is hardly confirmation that it’s happening, but with a fresh set of hands on the property maybe they can pull it off.
As for Anansi Boys there’s news on that front as well, but we’ll have to take Gaiman at his word here. He says:
Other TV news also came to fruition today, although I do not have anywhere to link you to, so you will have to take my word for it: Anansi Boys is going to be made into a TV miniseries in the UK, by RED, for the BBC.
So if you’ve been dying for Gaiman-based television, it looks like you won’t have much longer to wait. Well, relatively speaking anyway. The production process can take a while.
And now, boys and girls, Neil Gaiman reading Green Eggs and Ham to celebrate Worldbuilders hitting their $500,000 stretch goal.
Please be our friend, Neil Gaiman.
(via Neil Gaiman)
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- Get the details on Neil Gaiman’s Wayward Manor video game
