The path to American Gods season 2 looked like it would be smooth, especially after Starz renewed the series just two episodes into its first season. Now, there has been an unexpected turn of events: Showrunners and executive producers Michael Green and Bryan Fuller have exited, leaving those vital roles temporarily unfilled.
News of Green and Fuller’s departure broke Wednesday, but no official reason was given. Deadline suggested that money was a factor. The first season’s budget was rumored to have already approached the rare air of Game of Thrones, with Variety’s sources indicating that each episode cost almost $10 million. Regardless of reason, though, Green and Fuller are now out the door.
As creators of the series, the two showrunners had been involved since the beginning. They worked closely with fellow executive producer Neil Gaiman, the author of the book upon which the TV series is based, with whom they seemed to have a good relationship. After news of Green and Fuller’s departure broke on Wednesday, Gaiman responded to American Gods fans’ questions on Twitter, sharing his disappointment as well as declining to reveal the reason behind their exit.
“I don’t think I can comment on that,” he wrote in response to one fan. “I’m really sorry Bryan and Michael are going: they are my friends and have terrific creative minds.”
Gaiman did also offer reassurance that the show would go on, saying season 2 was “not in question.” Alas, he won’t be stepping in to replace them. He explained that he already has a gig as showrunner on the upcoming BBC series Good Omens, and he wants to return to writing novels after that.
No, it's not true at all. I'm showrunning Good Omens in the UK until next year, then retiring from showrunning and going back to writing novels for a living. https://t.co/nsmx7OkLzK
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) November 30, 2017
Whoever takes over as showrunner has a lot of work left to do. There are still more season 2 scripts left to be written, according to Deadline, not to mention episodes to make. The good news is that more than half of the episodes have reportedly been written, so hopefully the shake-up won’t lead to long delays.
The show was expected to return in mid-2018, but it remains to be seen when it will premiere now given the major change.
Updated: We added the rumored per-episode budget.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.