Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys Show Loses Showrunner Shortly After Exiting Good Omens Season 3

There have been many onscreen adaptations of Neil Gaiman’s work, and it was announced back in 2021 that Anansi Boys would be turned into a series for Amazon Prime. Now much news has been released since Delroy Lindo’s casting was announced two years ago, but now it looks like the series has lost its showrunner. It was reported earlier this week that Good Omens showrunner, director, and executive producer Douglas Mackinnon would not be returning for the yet-announced third season. Mackinnon was also supposed to serve as showrunner for Anansi Boys, but it looks like he has exited that project, too.

According to Deadline, Mackinnon has exited the series, marking the second Gaiman adaptation he has left recently. It’s being reported that Mackinnon left Anansi Boys last November when the show was in its early stages of post-production. The show’s six episodes wrapped filming last May. On both Good Omens and Anansi Boys, Mackinnon was serving as the co-showrunner alongside Gaiman. He is still expected to receive a directing credit on one of the episodes as well as an “additional material shot by” credit on another episode. 

What Is Anansi Boys About? 

Anansi Boys is a fantasy novel that follows Charlie Nancy, a man who has lived a mostly mundane life and is occasionally embarrassed by his estranged father. After his father’s death, Charlie learns he is the son of Anansi, the trickster god of stories. He also learns that he has a brother named Spider, which leads him into an unexpected adventure. 

“Anansi Boys began around 1996, from a conversation I had with Lenny Henry about writing a story that was diverse and part of the culture that we both loved. I wrote a novel, an (I hope) joyous and funny book about a dead god and his two sons, about birds and ghosts and beasts and cops, based in Caribbean and African tales. It was my first number one NYT Bestseller, and went on to become a beloved and award-winning book,” Gaiman previously shared.

“Anansi Boys as a TV series has been a long time coming — I first started working with Endor and Red on making it over a decade ago. We needed Amazon Prime to come on board and embrace our vision, we needed a lead director with the craft and vision of Hanelle Culpepper, we needed the creative and technical wizardry of Douglas Mackinnon, who worked out how we could push the bounds of the possible to shoot a story set all over the world in a huge studio outside Edinburgh, and we needed the rest of the amazing talents that nobody knows about yet.”

Henry said, “I’ve been a huge fan, and couch-sleeping friend, of Neil Gaiman’s for over 30 years and I have loved being a part of the Anansi Boys‘ creative team. I love that we’re going to have a suitably diverse cast and crew to tell this joyous story. What’s great is that the whole production is listening and ensuring that inclusion is happening and is being seen to be done.”

Vernon Sanders, Amazon Studios Co-Head of Television, added, “No one can weave a story of fantasy, humor, and deep emotion quite like Neil Gaiman, and Anansi Boys is a funny, weird, wonderful ride. We’re so happy to have Neil, Lenny, and Douglas bring their vision for Anansi Boys to the screen for our Prime Video customers around the world.”

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