‘American Gods’: Gillian Anderson To Play Media In Starz Series

The X-Files star Gillian Anderson has been tapped to play Media, the mouthpiece for the New Gods, in Starz’s upcoming adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed contemporary fantasy novel American Gods.

Media functions as the New Gods’ public face and sales representative, by taking the form of various iconic celebrities. She lives off the attention and worship that people give to screens – to their laptops, their TVs, to their iPhones in their hands while they watch their TVs. Ever the perky spokesperson, and always in control, she spins stories in whatever direction best suits her.

The plot of American Gods posits a war brewing between old and new gods: the traditional gods of mythological roots from around the world steadily losing believers to an upstart pantheon of gods reflecting society’s modern love of money, technology, media, celebrity and drugs. Its protagonist, Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle), is an ex-con who becomes bodyguard and traveling partner to Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane), a conman who in reality is one of the older gods, on a cross-country mission to gather his forces in preparation to battle the new deities.

The X-Files series alum reprised her role as Dana Scully in Fox’s reboot of the cult-classic which premiered in January. Anderson earned two SAG Awards, an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series, along with numerous nominations for her portrayal of Scully in the original drama series, which aired for nine seasons from 1993-2002. She also recently appeared in TV miniseries War and Peace which aired this past January, and she is currently in production on the third and final season of praised series The Fall, which will premiere this year. Anderson is repped by CAA.

Bryan Fuller and Michael Green are writers and showrunners of American Gods. David Slade is directing the pilot and additional episodes. FremantleMedia North America’s Craig Cegielski and Stefanie Berk are executive producing the series along with Fuller, Green, Slade and Gaiman. FremantleMedia is distributing the series worldwide.