Gillian Anderson Joins Neil Gaiman's American Gods Cast as Media

Gillian Anderson is the latest big name to join the cast of American Gods, the Starz television show adapting Neil Gaiman's celebrated novel. She joins the series as Media, the voice of the newly emerging gods - think of her as the PR person of the deities. How is this particular god worshipped? Well, her altar is any digital screen. Anytime someone looks at a TV or a laptop or a smartphone or a tablet, they're giving her power; so basically she's the most powerful god that ever lived.

Anderson, of course most famous for her role as FBI Agent Dana Scully in The X-Files, joins an increasingly superlative cast that already includes Ian McShane, Ricky Whittle, Cloris Leachman, Crispin Glover, Emily Browning, and many more. The series will explore the story of the novel, in which the gods of old are struggling to hold onto their power while the new gods of present day objects of worship like technology, celebrity, and money continue to rise.

Bryan Fuller and Michael Green are showrunning the series, with David Slade as the first announced director, handling the pilot. Writer Neil Gaiman was on set for the pilot and praised it continuously during his visit, showing off a few stealthy pictures, and talking about the awe in seeing Mr. Wednesday (aka Woten aka Odin of Norse Mythology) come to life in the form of Ian McShane. His first scene was shot, naturally, on a Wednesday.

American Gods follows the story of Shadow, an ex-con who happens to be the bodyguard of the elusive Mr. Wednesday. Both end up embroiled in a war between old gods and new, though Mr. Wednesday has a vested interest in how that war turns out. Each of the gods are known by different, more modern names, all of which hint at who they truly are inside.

Joining Gillian Anderson as Media are Ian McShane as Mr. Wednesday, Ricky Whittle as Shadow, Emily Browning as Shadow's wife Laura, Sean Harris as Mad Sweeney, Yetide Badaki as Bilquis, Bruce Langley as Technology Boy, Jonathan Tucker as Low-Key Lyesmith (you can probably figure that one out), and Crispin Glover as Mr. World. Cloris Leachman was cast as Zorya Vechernyaya, one of the three sisters. Peter Stormare was cast as Czernobog, Chris Obi as Anubis, and Mousa Kraish as The Jinn. No release date has been scheduled yet by Starz.