'American Gods' Renewed For Season 3 With 'The Walking Dead' Alum As New Showrunner
The gods have spoken, and they have blessed the troubled fantasy series American Gods with a new season and a new showrunner. Starz has officially picked up American Gods season 3, which will be overseen by The Walking Dead alum Charles "Chic" Eglee.
Deadline broke the news that Starz has renewed American Gods for a third season, with former The Walking Dead executive producer Chic Eglee on board as showrunner. The announcement comes a week after the second season premiered and a month after the outlet reported that Starz was likely to renew the fantasy series based on Neil Gaiman's novel of the same name.
Starz programming boss Carmi Zlotnik said in a statement:
"Audiences continue to worship at the altar of American Gods and we are excited to be able to announce to all the true believers that there is more of this fantastical series to come. With Chic at the helm, the invaluable insight and contributions of Neil Gaiman and the undeniable talent of this dedicated cast and crew, we know that the show will continue to deliver on the vision and promise laid out in the novel."
"I'm thrilled American Gods has been renewed for a third season, and even more thrilled that I'm getting to work on it with Chic Eglee," added Gaiman, an executive producer on the series.
Eglee is the fourth showrunner to board the fantasy series since the series first debuted on Starz in 2017. Bryan Fuller and Michael Green's bold and hyper-violent vision of the series made quite a splash, earning the first season of American Gods raves from critics and establishing the series as a prime watercooler show. However, after clashes with executives over budget and reported clashes with Gaiman over divergences from his novel, Fuller and Green left the project and Jesse Alexander was brought in to replace them for season 2. However, Alexander was soon quietly ousted as well, and the series limped forward to present a season that proved to be a pale shadow of its former self.
Can Eglee right the ship? Eglee has had a long career in Hollywood as a screenwriter and producer, but his most recent credit is Hemlock Grove, for which he served as executive producer for its second season in 2014. And for his most major genre credit, The Walking Dead, he only served as an executive producer for season 1 (which, granted, was the show's best season). We'll have to wait and see, but let's hope that success has been divined for American Gods.