Neil Gaiman’s ‘Anansi Boys’ Ordered to Series at Amazon
Get ready for more Neil Gaiman (Good Omens, recently renewed for Season 2) on Amazon and more about Charlie Nancy.
Amazon Studios has ordered a series adaptation of Gaiman’s novel, Anansi Boys. The six-episode limited series will start filming later this year in Scotland. While it features a character from American Gods (played by Orlando Jones in the first two seasons of the Starz series), it’s a stand-alone story, not a sequel or spin-off.
Based on Gaiman’s international best-selling novel, the series centers around Charlie Nancy, a young man who is accustomed to his estranged father embarrassing him. However, following his father’s death, Charlie discovers his dad was Anansi, the trickster god of stories. He also finds out he has a brother, Spider, who “is entering Charlie’s life, determined to make it more interesting but making it a lot more dangerous,” according to the logline.
“Anansi Boys began around 1996, from a conversation I had with Lenny Henry about writing a story that was diverse and part of the culture that we both loved. I wrote a novel, an (I hope) joyous and funny book about a dead god and his two sons, about birds and ghosts and beasts and cops, based in Caribbean and African tales,” Gaiman said in a statement. (He and Henry will serve as executive producers and writers.)
“We are trying to make a new kind of show with Anansi Boys, and to break ground with it to make something that celebrates and rejoices in diversity both in front of and behind the camera,” he continued. “I’m so thrilled it’s happening and that people will be meeting Mr. Nancy, Charlie and Spider, the Bird Woman and the rest of them.”
Amazon Studios
Douglas Mackinnon, Hanelle M. Culpepper, Hilary Bevan Jones, and Richard Fee are also executive producers. Arvind Ethan David, Kara Smith, and Racheal Ofori will also write for the series. Gaiman and Mackinnon serve as co-showrunners. Culpepper will direct the pilot. Jermain Julien and Azhur Saleem will also direct. Paul Frift will produce.
