We'd heard the casting news, we'd seen the images, but we had yet to get a real sense of what Bryan Fuller was cooking up with American Gods. Thankfully, that changed today at the panel for the Starz show, which adapts Neil Gaiman's 2001 novel into a (mostly) living, (mostly) breathing thing. British actor Ricky Whittle plays Shadow, a gentle giant who walks out of prison and into the middle of a brewing war between deities old and new. We also get a good look at Ian McShane as Shadow's unasked-for patron Mr. Wednesday, and Emily Browning as his dead wife Laura—and fans of the Gaiman novel will recognize a number of minor characters, from old-schoolers Mad Sweeney and Bilquis to new jacks like Technical Boy. No sign of Orlando Jones as Mr. Nancy, though that'll likely be remedied before too long—the show doesn't premiere until 2017.

Pause at: 1:15 for a glimpse of Peter Stormare as the sledgehammer-wielding Czernobog.