Posted in: American Gods, Starz, streaming, Trailer, TV, YouTube | Tagged: bilquis, bleeding cool, books, cable, lakeside, Mr. Nancy, neil gaiman, new gods, novels, old gods, orlando jones, ricky whittle, Shadow Moon, starz, streaming, Tech Boy, television, tv, wednesday

American Gods: Orlando Jones Taking Victory Lap or Something More?

The last time we heard from Orlando Jones with regards to STARZ's American Gods was back in January of this year when Jones and author/EP Neil Gaiman had a brief Twitter encounter over the facts surrounding Jones's departure from the series ahead of the third season. Though you can check out the backstory in further detail here, here, here, and here- in December 2019, Jones took to social media to announce he wasn't being asked to return for the third season and that the reason was that showrunner Charles Eglee and others had an issue with his character addressing race-related issues in the manner that many viewers and critics alike praised during the second season. Gaiman and others responded that Jones's character wasn't returning for the new season because his character played very little to no role in the part of Gaiman's novel the series would be covering just as other characters from the previous two seasons wouldn't have a role to play this round.

Now let's flash ahead to this morning, less than 24 hours after viewers of the Ricky Whittle and Ian McShane-starring series learned that STARZ would not be bringing the series back for a fourth and final season. While fans process not seeing the full ending to a series they've been committed to through some long waits and some rough patches… while the cast and crew wait to see if there will be some kind of finale to the story on screen… we were wondering if Jones would comment on the matter. And he did on Tuesday morning posting a brief clip that shows him not exactly heartbroken over the news- but is he taking an odd "victory lap" or teasing a return? All things considered, we would doubt the latter considering there might still be a SAG investigation going on and things did not leave off well. But then again, what has 2020 taught us? Never say "never" to anything. Check out the clip below:

Reportedly, discussions are underway for a limited series event or cable television film to complete the story- as Whittle mentioned in his Instagram Stories and Twitter response to the news (though nothing is confirmed and is strictly a rumor at this point):

Here's a (now nostalgic) look back at the third season of STARZ's American Gods:

"American Gods" is the epic story of an inevitable war building between the Old Gods of mythology and our New Gods of technology. Whittle stars as ex-con Shadow Moon, a man pulled into the service of the mysterious Mr. Wednesday, played by Ian McShane ("Deadwood", John Wick) — only to discover that not only is his charismatic but un-trustable boss actually the Norse All-Father god Odin, he's also…Shadow's father.

In Season Three, Shadow angrily pushes this apparent destiny away and settles in the idyllic snowy town of Lakeside, Wisconsin — to make his own path, guided by the gods of his Black ancestors, the Orishas. But he'll soon discover that this town's still waters run deep, and dark, and bloody, and that you don't get to simply reject being a god. The only choice — and a choice you have to make — is what kind of god you're going to be.

STARZ'S American Gods star Ricky Whittle (The 100, Austenland) as 'Shadow Moon,' Ian McShane (Deadwood, Ray Donovan) as Mr. Wednesday, Emily Browning (Sucker Punch, The Affair) as Laura Moon, Yetide Badaki (Aquarius, This Is Us) as Bilquis, Bruce Langley (Deadly Waters) as Tech Boy, Omid Abtahi (The Mandalorian, Damien) as Salim, Ashley Reyes (Night Has Settled) as Cordelia, Crispin Glover (Back to the Future) as World, Demore Barnes (12 Monkeys, Waco) as Mr. Ibis, Devery Jacobs (Cardinal, The Order) as Sam Black Crow, and Blythe Danner (Huff, Will & Grace) as Demeter.

The series also stars Julia Sweeney (Shrill, Saturday Night Live) as Hinzelmann, Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones, InHumans) as Liam Doyle, Danny Trejo (Machete) as World, Peter Stormare (Fargo, Prison Break) as Czernobog, Denis O'Hare (True Blood, Dallas Buyers Club) as Tyr, Lela Loren (Power, Altered Carbon) as Marguerite Olsen, Dominique Jackson (Pose) as World, Wale (American Honey, Godfather of Harlem) as Chango, Herizen Guardiola (The Get Down) as Oshun, and Eric Johnson (The Girlfriend Experience, Vikings) as Chad Mulligan.

Produced by Fremantle with Executive Producer Charles H. Eglee serving as showrunner, STARZ's American Gods is based on author and EP Neil Gaiman's modern classic novel. Anne Kenney, Damian Kindler, David Paul Francis, Mark Tinker, Ian McShane, Craig Cegielski, and Stefanie Berk also executive produce.

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