History Trivia / AmericanGods2017

* WrongfullyAttributed: Due to being the author of the book the show is based on and frequently participating in interviews about the show with actors and showrunners, Creator/NeilGaiman has been often mistaken for an active power on the show, and credited (or blamed) with many of the decisions (or mistakes) the show committed. To the point Neil Gaiman had to reclarify his actual role in the making of the series [[https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/673323364701569024/i-mean-this-respectfully-but-it-seems-you-are in a Tumblr ask]]: he did not create the show, he talked with each new showrunner at the beginning of each season to explain to them what the story and characters were about, he helped some actors get cast and he made some suggestions (that the showrunner had no obligation to follow - except this [[NoodleIncident one time he threatened to throw himself under a bus]]). In fact we know that he was unaware of a lot of things that actually went on in the show - for example he was mostly absent from the making of season 2 due to his work on ''Series/GoodOmens'', to the point of discovering some unfortunate casting decisions upon the episodes being released (see OldShame above).

* OldShame: Neil Gaiman [[https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/184718442846/hey-neil-i-dont-know-how-much-input-you-have-on has expressed regret]] upon being informed that the show cast white actors Creator/JulianRichings and Stephen R. Hart to portray the Native American (Lakota) cultural characters Iktomi and Gnaski. The casting decision drew backlash from fans, especially given that the show had cast a Native American actress (Creator/KawennahereDeveryJacobs) to play another Native American character. Neil Gaiman also promised to talk to the showrunner to try to avoid such things in the future.

* WhyFandomCantHaveNiceThings: Due to the messages of the show, its exploration of various cultures and the outrage the fans felt upon seeing Orlando Jones fired (see above), one would believe the fandom to be pretty strong against discrimination. Yet there was one big incident in season three, when Creator/RickyWhittle decided to let his hair grow instead of shaving it to play Shadow. Many fans criticized him as a "sell-out" for using a perm to have his hair look like the one of a "White guy", even going as far as linking this to the Orlando Jones incident and presenting Ricky Whittle as a Black actor rejecting his Black heritage for money. Except that... it was his natural hair. Most viewers visibly completely ignored that Ricky Whittle was a biracial actor, and he had to publicly remind them that biracial discrimination was a thing too.

* WrongfullyAttributed: Due to being the author of the book the show is based on and frequently participating in interviews about the show with actors and showrunners, Creator/NeilGaiman has been often mistaken for an active power on the show, and credited (or blamed) with many of the decisions (or mistakes) the show committed. To the point Neil Gaiman had to reclarify his actual role in the making of the series [[https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/673323364701569024/i-mean-this-respectfully-but-it-seems-you-are in a Tumblr ask]]: he did not create the show, he talked with each new showrunner at the beginning of each season to explain to them what the story and characters were about, he helped some actors get cast and he made some suggestions (that the showrunner had no obligation to follow - except this [[NoodleIncident one time he threatened to throw himself under a bus]]). In fact we know that he was unaware of a lot of things that actually went on in the show - for example he was mostly absent from the making of season 2 due to his work on Series/GoodOmens, to the point of discovering some unfortunate casting decisions upon the episodes being released (see OldShame above).

* TheOtherDarrin: Since Gillian Anderson quit after Season One in protest of Fuller and Green being removed as show runners, Kahyun Kim was brought in as New Media for Season Two.

** A majority of the cast signed up the show because they wanted to work with Bryan Fuller and Michael Green, and when the two were given the boot this naturally caused a lot of backlash amongst the cast - Gillian Anderson went so far as to quit the show itself.
** Creator/OrlandoJones was fired by season 3's new show runner, and made a furious response accusing him of being afraid of Mr. Nancy causing a race rebellion among the fans, as well as the production company treating all its employees like "second class citizens." However another part of the show's team mentioned that Orlando was not so much fired as simply asked to not return for season 3, due to it covering a part of the novel where the character of Mr. Nancy did not appear (Neil Gaiman even expressed hopes that he would agree to return for future seasons - though the cancellation of the show makes this unlikely). The exact details of this feud stay muddled, and the issue is still unclear to this day and a big point of contention among fans.

* CastingGag: Season 2 introduces The Caretaker, the literal God of the ConspiracyTheory who had a hand in events such as Roswell and directly communicates with the President. He's played by Creator/EricPeterson, whose most well known roles are from the Canadian ''Series/StreetLegal'' and ''Series/CornerGas''. [[FakeAmerican They cast one of the most Canadian actors they could find to play one of the most American characters ever conceived]].

* NamesTheSame: The New Gods are not to be confused with the ComicBook/NewGods.
** Amusingly, some of the Old Gods have tendencies not unlike [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos the Old Gods.]]
** Shadow Moon is also the name of a villain from Series/KamenRiderBlack.

** Creator/OrlandoJones was fired by season 3's new show runner, and made a furious response accusing him of being afraid of the AngryBlackMan Mr. Nancy causing a race rebellion among the fans, as well as the production company treating all its employees like "second class citizens." However another part of the show's team mentioned that Orlando was not so much fired as simply asked to not return for season 3, due to it covering a part of the novel where the character of Mr. Nancy did not appear (Neil Gaiman even expressed hopes that he would agree to return for future seasons - though the cancellation of the show makes this unlikely). The exact details of this feud stay muddled, and the issue is still unclear to this day and a big point of contention among fans.

* OldShame: Neil Gaiman [[https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/184718442846/hey-neil-i-dont-know-how-much-input-you-have-on has expressed regret]] upon being informed that the show casted white actors Creator/JulianRichings and Stephen R. Hart to portray the Native American (Lakota) cultural characters Iktomi and Gnaski. The casting decision drew backlash from fans, especially given that the show had cast a Native American actress (Creator/KawennahereDeveryJacobs) to play another Native American character. Neil Gaiman also promised to talk to the showrunner to try to avoid such things in the future.

* QueerCharacterQueerActor: Creator/KawennahereDeveryJacobs, who's queer, was Samantha "Sam" Black Crow, a Cherokee Two-Spirit.

* ActorSharedBackground: Ricky Whittle, like Shadow, is half Black and half White.

* ScheduleSlip: Season Two premiered two years after the first Season for a number of reasons. Firstly Starz wasn't willing to renew it until it saw the audience reaction. Then Bryan Fuller and Michael Green left the show under mysterious circumstances, and a new showrunner had to be found. Then Jesse Alexander went over schedule, and over budget.
** Season Three was similar, given more behind-the-scenes drama and delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic made it return after nearly 2 years again. It also had an enforced case, as Starz decided to not release an episode on Super Bowl Sunday.

** The first season was planned to be ten episodes long and to end with the meeting at the House on the Rock. Due to budget restrains, it was cut down to eight episodes and the House on the Rock meeting was re-used for the opening of season 2. One of the cut plotlines involved the Intangibles, the new gods of stock market mentionned in the novel, and there are still concept arts of it.
** Bryan Fuller and Michael Green had already prepared plans for season 2 before leaving the show. Informations are scarce, but we know that aliens would have appeared, that there would have been a great focus on Audrey, and that Media would have appeared as Princess Leia and Mr. Rogers.

* WhyFandomCantHaveNiceThings: Due to the messages of the show, its exploration of various cultures and the outrage the fans felt upon seeing Orlando Jones fired (see above), one would believe the fandom to be pretty strong again discrimination. Yet there was one big incident in season three, when [[Creator/RickyWhittle]] decided to let his hair grow instead of shaving it to play Shadow. Many fans criticized him as a "sell-out" for using a perm to have his hair look like the one of a "White guy", even going as far as linking this to the Orlando Jones incident and presenting Ricky Whittle as a Black actor rejecting his Black heritage for money. Except that... it was his natural hair. Most viewers visibly completely ignored that Ricky Whittle was a biracial actor, and he had to publically remind them that biracial discrimination was a thing too.

* WrongfullyAttributed: Due to being the author of the book the show is based on and frequently participating in interviews about the show with actors and showrunners, [[Creator/NeilGaiman]] has been often mistaken for an active power on the show, and credited (or blamed) with many of the decisions (or mistakes) the show committed. To the point Neil Gaiman had to reclarify his actual role in the making of the series [[https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/673323364701569024/i-mean-this-respectfully-but-it-seems-you-are in a Tumblr ask]]: he did not crate the show, he talked with each new showrunner at the beginning of each season to explain to them what the story and characters were about, he helped some actors get cast and he made some suggestions (that the showrunner had no obligation to follow - except this [[NoodleIncident one time he threatened to throw himself under a bus]]). In fact we know that he was unaware of a lot of things that actually went on in the show - for example he was mostly absent from the making of season 2 due to his work on [[Series/GoodOmens]], to the point of discovering some unfortunate casting decisions upon the episodes being released (see OldShame above).

** Creator/OrlandoJones was fired by season 3's new show runner, and made a furious response accusing him of being afraid of the AngryBlackMan Mr. Nancy causing a race rebellion among the fans, as well as the production company treating all its employees like "second class citizens." However another part of the show's team mentioned that Orlando was not so much fired as simply asked to not return for season 3, due to it covering a part of the novel where the character of Mr. Nancy did not appear (Neil Gaiman even expressed hopes that he would agree to return for future seasons - though the cancellation of the show makes this unlikely).

* WordOfGod: The writers of Season One, when discussing the sex scene between Salim and the Jinn, clarified that it was ''not'' intended to be Salim's first sexual encounter with another man. Rather, the significance of the scene was the real intimacy between the two and their lack of shame or fear of discovery, which ''were'' new to Salim, whose life until that point was defined by being a closeted and lonely gay man in a deeply homophobic country.

* WrittenByCastMember: Besides being credited as consultant producer in Season 2, Orlando Jones reveals in several interviews that he ended up being roped into writing the character bibles and scripts for several characters, including Bilquis, Salim, the Jinn, Sam Black Crow, Mr. Ibis, main characters Shadow and Laura Moon, and his own character Mr. Nancy.

** Creator/OrlandoJones was fired by Season 3's new show runner, and made a furious response accusing him of being afraid of the AngryBlackMan Mr. Nancy causing a race rebellion among the fans, as well as the production company treating all its employees like "second class citizens."

* WrittenByCastMember: Besides being credited as consultant producer in Season 2, Orlando Jones reveals in several interviews that he ended up being roped into writing the character bibles and scripts for several characters, including Bilquis, Salim, the Jinn, Sam Black Crow, Mr. Ibis, main characters Shadow and Laura Moon, and his own character Mr. Nancy.

* OldShame: Neil Gaiman [[https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/184718442846/hey-neil-i-dont-know-how-much-input-you-have-on has expressed regret]] for the show casting white actors Creator/JulianRichings and Stephen R. Hart to portray the Native American (Lakota) cultural characters Iktomi and Gnaski. The casting decision drew backlash from fans, especially given that the show had cast a Native American actress (Creator/KawennahereDeveryJacobs) to play another Native American character.

* TroubledProduction: Making the series has not been an easy task (''The Hollywood Reporter'' [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/american-gods-canceled-at-starz downright called it "a magnet for trouble"]]), to the point that every season runs into budget problems and ends with the showrunners leaving and some actors quitting. Season 2 in particular had the scripts being constantly rewritten by the actors themselves, with the production was forced to hire Orlando Jones as a writer so as to not get in trouble with the WGA - and Jones added that there was barely anything done for the minority parts, including series lead Ricky Whittle! It ultimately culminated in the show being cancelled following low ratings in season 3, making the producers seek a way to conclude the story, possibly with a movie.

* WordofSaintPaul: Bruce Langley spoke extensively about his character's psyche and evolution, as well as his interpretation of the dynamics between the New Gods, throughout the duration of the television series (it even became a running joke that he would delve into extremely deep and complex analysis whenever asked a question about the Technical Boy or the gods). As a result, he gave some interesting info to understand the show. For example, about the disappearance of Quantum Boy in season 3, Bruce Langley explained in an interview that in-universe it was caused by Quantum Boy's unstable nature (since he was the embodiment of quantum computers, Langley even pointing out how his costume had cooling tubes). In the show itself? It is handwaved as Technical Boy "failing" his upgrade and never brought back again.

** Season 2 has an important amount of deleted material. Several trailers and promotional pictures show several cut scenes from "The Greatest Story Ever Told", including a scene involving a miniaturized Technical Boy in front of New Media. A storyboard released on Instagram revealed that it was planned for Mr. Nancy to confront and fight the ghost of Froggy James in "The Ways of the Dead". Behind-the-scene materials also revealed the existence of a deleted scene involving a previous incarnation of the Technical Boy, a video game-based character looking a lot like his novel counterpart (obese and dressed in geeky 80s/90s clothes). When asked about it, Bruce Langley promised that if the scene was not reused in the future he would release additional material about it.