Get ready to see Dane Cook a lot more this fall! The comedian has joined the cast of the small-screen adaptation of Neil Gaiman‘s fantasy novel for Starz Network American Gods, a rep for the network confirmed to Variety Latino.
The show tells 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 (played by Ricky Whittle), is an ex-con who becomes bodyguard and traveling partner to Mr.Wednesday (Ian McShane), 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.
Cook is set to play the role of Shadow’s best friend and employer, Robbie who promises to hold Shadow’s job for him while he’s in prison. Robbie is married to Audrey (Betty Gilpin), best friend to Shadow’s wife Laura (Emily Browning), and he provides another shoulder for Laura to cry on while Shadow is away.
Cook took to Twitter to share his excitement:
“I couldn’t be more stoked to be a part of Amercian Gods, based on Neil Gaiman’s fantasy novel. Sensational cast & crew.”
Rounding out the cast are Pablo Schreiber as Mad Sweeney, Yetide Badaki as Bilquis, Crispin Glover as Mr. World, Jonathan Tucker as Low Key Lyesmith, Gillian Anderson as Media, Peter Stormare as Czernobog, Cloris Leachman as Zorya Vechernyaya, Orlando Jones as Mr. Nancy and Demore Barnes as Mr. Ibis.
American Gods is set to premiere in 2017.
