EXCLUSIVE: Part of the Hannibal gang is getting back together – at least behind the camera. David Slade will be joining Bryan Fuller on American Gods, I’ve learned. The Hannibal EP and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse director is set to helm the pilot and several more episodes of FremantleMedia North America’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Hugo and Nebula Award-winning contemporary fantasy novel. Slade will also serve as an EP on the series, which has Fuller and Michael Green as showrunners.

Currently in pre-production, the first season of American Gods is scheduled to debut on Starz in 2017. The cabler picked up the adaptation of Gaiman’s 2001 book about a war between new and old gods with a straight-to-series order in June. Gaiman himself will write a number of the scripts for the first season.

With Hannibal the series now seemingly truly over, Fuller hasn’t made a secret of his desire to work with Slade again. In a July interview with Deadline, soon after Hannibal was cancelled by NBC, the EP floated the idea of a Hannibal movie with Slade directing stars Mads Mikkelson and Hugh Dancy. Besides his work on Hannibal and the 2010 Twilight sequel, Slade has directed opening episodes for the likes of Awake, Crossbones, the Sony Playstation Network series Powers and the CBS medical drama LFE.

Along with Slade, Fuller and Green, FremantleMedia North America’s Craig Cegielski and Stefanie Berk also are EPs on the series as is Gaiman. Starz’s SVP of Original Programming Ken Segna is the exec in charge of American Gods for the premium cabler. Starz will retain all network pay TV and SVOD rights to the project. FremantleMedia will distribute the series worldwide.

Slade is repped by WME and Anonymous Content