(That pact, signed in 2016, expired earlier this year.) Gaiman, an executive producer, co-wrote the second-season premiere and weighed in on other creative decisions and directions, but he was not a regular presence around the Gods production offices or the Toronto set despite, after the season two shake-up, being billed as “co-showrunner.” In the second season, a great deal of power belonged to Gaiman, according to sources who say that Fremantle is very keen to keep the author pleased, given that the studio had a first-look deal with him at the time. “I don’t know which problems came from Starz and which came from Fremantle, but I know that there was serious disagreement about what they were making,” one source says. However, Berk recently left Fremantle for a position at Film Nation.
#Insurmountable problems series
Stefanie Berk, a Gods executive producer and Fremantle executive who brought the show to the studio after a development attempt at HBO stalled, was characterized by one source as the “glue” holding the series together. Insiders say Fremantle meddled, and not in ways that helped the show sustain a coherent creative vision or keep the production on track. Starz largely let Fremantle run the show, but Fremantle’s stable of programs are mostly in the reality realm, which made the stakes surrounding Gods - one of the studio’s rare scripted programs - all the higher. There was conflict in the first season - much of it documented when Green and Fuller were fired in November 2017 - and if anything, things got worse in season two, multiple sources note.
“There are a lot of people who had a lot of different visions for what the book would look like on air,” says one source with extensive knowledge of the show’s history. We think fans will feel the same when we share a first look at New York Comic-Con in a few weeks.” Our cast and crew are extremely passionate about the show and have delivered something that remains loyal to the source material and true to the creative vision of Neil Gaiman. “We are confident that when the fans get their first look at season two in just a few weeks at New York Comic-Con, they will agree it was worth the wait.”Īdded Fremantle in its own statement: “We stand by our network partner’s statement and share in their confidence that season two will exceed expectations. “ American Gods has a deep and complex mythology and a unique visual style that makes this series one of the most ambitious productions on television, and one that we remain committed to delivering for our audience,” a spokesperson for Starz said in a statement. Sources note that Fremantle, the show’s studio, would rather exile Alexander than endure the negative attention that would come with dismissing a second showrunner in two seasons. One source described Alexander’s role as effectively “fired but not fired,” as he has been relegated to the sidelines on season two but has yet to be replaced. But Alexander, an executive producer, is no longer working on the hyper-stylized drama as a writer or showrunner, and has been asked not to sit in on editing, be involved on set or participate in any other areas of production or postproduction.
The word “fired” was not used internally, and a representative for Alexander said that characterization was not accurate. Insiders say Alexander was asked to stop working on American Gods, an adaptation of a Neil Gaiman novel, about a month ago. Jesse Alexander, who took over Starz’s American Gods in February after original showrunners Michael Green and Bryan Fuller were pushed out, has been sidelined, multiple sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.
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