Orlando Jones & Demore Barnes join Starz’s American Gods series

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

Starz has announced that Orlando Jones (Sleepy Hollow, Evolution) and Demore Barnes (12 Monkeys, The Unit) have been added to the cast of its American Gods series, joining Ian McShane, Emily Browning, Pablo Schreiber, Crispin Glover, Jonathan Tucker, Gillian Anderson, Peter Stormare, and Cloris Leachman.

Jones will play Mr. Nancy, "the old African trickster god more commonly known as Anansi, and one of Mr. Wednesday’s (McShane) oldest confidantes. Like Wednesday, Nancy is ready to bring this new America (and its new gods) to its knees, desperate to light a fire and watch the whole world burn." Barnes, meanwhile, has been cast as Mr. Ibis, "the keeper of stories, past and present, and he recounts them with great relish. His old fashioned sensibilities do not preclude a wry wit."

Based on the Neil Gaiman novel of the same name, the series will tell the story of "a war brewing between old and new gods: the traditional gods of mythological roots from around the world steadily losing believers to an upstart pantheon of gods reflecting society’s modern love of money, technology, media, celebrity and drugs. Its protagonist, Shadow Moon, is an ex-con who becomes bodyguard and traveling partner to Mr. Wednesday, a conman but in reality one of the older gods, on a cross-country mission to gather his forces in preparation to battle the new deities."

Filming is already underway for American Gods, which is expected to premiere on Starz sometime in 2017.