HBO Developing Neil Gaiman's 'American Gods' for Series

NEW YORK - JUNE 01: Author Neil Gaiman attends the celebration for the world premiere of the musical, "Coraline" at Telsey + Company Studios on June 1, 2009 in New York City.

The novel, published in 2001, centers on the adventures of an ex-convict named Shadow.

HBO is developing Neil Gaiman’s novel American Gods for a potential series.

Gods, centering on the adventures of an ex-convict named Shadow, was published in June 2001 and has won the Hugo and Nebula Awards.

The project comes from Playtone, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman’s production company, also behind The Pacific, Big Love and Band of Brothers.

The news comes just as the pay cabler is on the cusp of debuting its ambitious new fantasy drama series, Game of Thrones, based on George R.R. Martin’s bestselling books.

Gaiman is no stranger to the film and TV worlds.

His Stardust and Coraline novels were adapted into big-screen features and he produced and wrote the Robert Zemeckis-directed movie Beowulf. Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, released in September 2008, will be adapted into a feature by Neil Jordan, who will also direct.

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