For better or worse, Marvel Studios has been extremely successful with its shared universe storytelling model, and everywhere you look there are others attempting to follow in their ambitious, Hulk-sized footsteps. The latest to embrace the increasingly popular technique is screenwriter Bryan Fuller.
After the cancellation of the much-loved Hannibal series, Fuller's next project is to adapt Neil Gaiman's popular fantasy novel, American Gods for the small screen. In an interview with Crave, the prolific showrunner spoke of his MCU-inspired plans for the show. “[W]hat we’re looking at with American Gods is developing a Marvel Universe, not with superheroes but with gods. As detailed and integrated as the Marvel Universe is, and doing that with deities is something that excited all of us...
"In success we may have spin-offs of American Gods that follow lesser gods in greater detail than you might in the main series, but there’s all sorts of potential for this show that we’re very excited about and I hope the audience is as enthusiastic as we are so we can bring those dreams to fruition."
The Pushing Daisies writer also went onto explain how the show will deal with the delicate subject material: “There’s conversations in the writer’s room that we are having on this show that I’ve never had in a writer’s room before, because we’re actually given the ability to talk about fate and belief, and the rules which we use to navigate society being challenged in a fashion that is not anti-religion, but not necessarily letting religion off the hook entirely...
"So it’s very important to us in the show to not be making fun of anybody for their religious beliefs because we all have some sort of belief-like thing in our brain that could arguably be delusional, whether it’s ghosts or gods or whatever superstition, black cats, walking under ladders, et cetera.” We'll be able to see just how successful Fuller & co are in implementing their ideas when American Gods premieres on the Starz network in 2017.
