Amazon’s six-episode limited series adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s 2005 fantasy novel Anansi Boys (buy a copy at THIS LINK) is currently in production, and Deadline has just broken the news that Jason Watkins (The Crown), Fiona Shaw (Killing Eve), and an actress who has one of the most memorable names ever – CCH Pounder (Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight) – have signed on to appear in the series. They join a cast that includes Delroy Lindo (Get Shorty) as Anansi / Mr. Nancy and Malachi Kirby (Roots) in the dual roles of Anansi’s sons Charlie and Spider.
Anansi Boys will center on
Charlie Nancy, a young man who is used to being embarrassed by his estranged father. But when his father dies, Charlie discovers that his father was Anansi: trickster god of stories. And he learns that he has a brother. Now his brother, Spider, is entering Charlie’s life, determined to make it more interesting, but also making it a lot more dangerous.
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Here’s some more information on Charlie and Spider:
The character of Charles Nancy, sometimes known as Fat Charlie (it was his father’s nickname for him – he’s not fat), is described as awkward, stressed, engaged to be married, and working at a job he hates for a man he hates. He is as normal as it is possible to be – at least until he learns that his father was a god, and that he has a magical brother he does not know about. Spider is that brother. Described as cocky, self-assured, magical, superpowered, utterly amoral, and perhaps a bit of a monster.
Also in the cast are Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn (Lovers Rock) as Rosie Noah, a teacher and fiancée to Charles “Fat Charlie” Nancy, and Grace Saif (13 Reasons Why) as as Detective Constable Daisy Day, “who finds herself deep into several intersecting police cases, including a murder”. L. Scott Caldwell (Lost), Joy Richardson (Small Axe), and Lachele Carl (Doctor Who) are in there as well.
If you have read Gaiman’s book, you may or may not recognize these names: Pounder is playing Mrs. Higgler, “the matriarch of her clan and an old family friend of Charlie’s”; Watkins is playing Graham Coats; and Shaw is playing Maeve Livingstone.
Gaiman serves as showrunner on Anansi Boys alongside Douglas Mackinnon, who directed all six episodes of the Gaiman series Good Omens‘ first season. Gaiman also wrote the Anansi Boys scripts with Lenny Henry, Arvind Ethan David, Kara Smith, and Racheal Ofori. Gaiman, Henry, and Mackinnon are executive producing the show with Hilary Bevan Jones, Richard Fee, and Hanelle M. Culpepper.
The first episode is directed by Culpepper, whose credits include Star Trek: Picard. Jermain Julien (Grantchester) and Azhur Saleem (Doctor Who) are also on board to direct episodes.
Anansi Boys is being produced by Amazon Studios, the Blank Corp., Endor Productions, RED Production, and Paul Frift. Filming is taking place in Scotland.
