Orlando Jones’ exit from American Gods season 3 is the death knell for the once-proud flagship show of Starz. While there are conflicting accounts as to why Jones will no longer be a part of the series’ cast or production team, it cannot be denied that his departure has further wounded a show that was already bleeding out after two troubled seasons.
Jones announced that his character, Mr. Nancy, would not be a part of American Gods season 3, in a video posted to his personal Twitter account. The video, which was dated September 10, 2019, showed Jones describing how he had just been fired from American Gods, due to the new showrunner thinking that “Mr. Nancy’s angry, get sh*t done is the wrong message for black America.” While it was not said that Jones would also not be part of the show’s writing team, it was implied as Jones was hand-picked by Neil Gaiman to join the show as a producer in season 2, so as to write new material for the character of Mr. Nancy.
Freemantle Media was quick to refute to Jones’ charges, in an interview with EW. Their claim is that Jones was left out of the new season because it was intended to focus on a portion of the novel set in the small town of Lakeside, where Mr. Nancy did not appear. Ignoring Jones’ credibility, Freemantle Media’s official statement seems as tall a tale as any told by Mr. Nancy himself. American Gods’ story was modified and expanded extensively over its first two seasons, with whole episodes being devoted to introducing new characters, answering questions the novel never addressed (such as what happened to Thor) and expanding the background of characters like Mad Sweeney, who were minor figures in the original novel. Given that, it strains all credibility that the new showrunner couldn’t put Jones to work on writing some new material for Mr. Nancy and all the other members of the ensemble not included in the Lakeside portion of the novel.
Whatever the circumstances behind Orlando Jones not returning, American Gods has lost yet another one of its most beloved performers and most dependable producers. This does not bode well for the upcoming third season of the once-popular series, regardless of how it came to pass. Given how well-received Mr. Nancy was by viewers, and the fact that Gaiman wanted Jones to expand on the character in his own way, it’s unfortunate that such an integral part of American Gods’ crew is not returning. Sadly, it is looking increasingly unlikely that the story of Shadow Moon will ever be successfully completed on Starz, much less result in an Anansi Boys spinoff.
Furthermore, describing the production of American Gods as troubled as a whole would be a vast understatement. The series’ original showrunners, Bryan Fuller & Michael Green, left the show after one season, due to conflicts with Freemantle Media and Starz over plans to cut the show’s budget in season 2. This led to the departure of actors Gillian Anderson and Kristen Chenoweth, who had previously worked with Fuller on Hannibal and Pushing Daisies, respectively. Jesse Alexander, the showrunner brought in to replace Fuller and Green, was “fired but not fired” as production on season 2 wound down and reportedly was not allowed to supervise the editing of the episodes or the post-production special effects work. Given all that, there is reason to find Jones’ claims of ill-treatment at the hands of the new American Gods showrunner credible.
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