American Gods (Book) type Book genre Fiction

The big guy is coming to Starz.

The network’s epic new 2017 series American Gods already has its ensemble bursting with deities, but another familiar name has been cast, EW has learned: Jeremy Davies has joined the cast as Jesus. Yes, that Jesus.

The series follows a thief named Shadow (Ricky Whittle) who finds himself at the center of a conflict brewing throughout America, unbeknownst to the country’s regular humans: A war of worship is being waged between the old gods — those who arrived in America from the world’s immigrant cultures — and the new gods of media and technology. Both are desperate for mankind’s attention.

Jesus plays into the appearance of another character: Kristin Chenoweth’s Easter, a.k.a. Ostara. Jesus’ official character description: “Resurrected on Ostara’s feast day, Jesus has always been generous in sharing the Easter holiday with the ancient goddess. But the overly empathetic Son of God would be crushed to know that Ostara harbors some deeply buried resentment over the issue.”

Davies, who will appear on the new season of Fox’s Sleepy Hollow as well as Showtime’s Twin Peaks revival, is an Emmy Award winner known for his work as Dickie Bennett on FX’s Justified, as well as his pivotal arc as Daniel Faraday on Lost. He’s also an alum of Hannibal and, through American Gods, reteams with creator Bryan Fuller (who serves as co-executive producer along with Michael Green).

The cast of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods also includes Ian McShane, Gillian Anderson, Pablo Schreiber, Emily Browning, Yetide Badaki, Bruce Langley, Crispin Glover, Orlando Jones, Peter Stormare, Cloris Leachman, Jonathan Tucker, Corbin Bernsen, Demore Barnes, Mousa Kraish, Chris Obi, and Omid Abtahi.