Despite being a show about magic and mythology, American Gods deals with very human issues. At New York Comic Con, stars Ricky Whittle, Yetide Badaki, and Pablo Schrieber sat down to talk about just why American Gods is so vital.
“It’s an important show. We were just very fortunate. The book came out in 2001. We wrapped [filming] before the inauguration… we were just fortunate that we happened to feature all of these themes in our show,” Whittle said. “On our show, we’re keeping these things in the conversation. Feminism, racism, gay rights, gun control, these are conversations we need to have.”
Yetide Badaki on Becoming Bilquis
The Starz series has drawn some controversy, both for its treatment of religious figures and for exploring such difficult themes. Each of the stars felt a connection to their character’s struggle and journey, and in many ways felt that it echoed their own experiences.
For Badaki, who was born in Nigeria, Bilquis resonated with her as a woman and as an immigrant.
“[Author Neil Gaiman] has tied in a whole bunch of issues which has been fascinating to explore. As a recent immigrant, that’s one of the things, these old gods coming to this new world, that stuck out to me,” she said.
Bilquis has one of the most scandalous sex scenes in all of American Gods, but Badaki found the experience empowering.
“What she’s really looking for is connection, it’s not just desire,” she explained of the former Queen of Sheba, who could have easily been a sex goddess trope. “It’s not male gaze that she depends on and that was very important to me. That was something that resonated to me reading Neil Gaiman’s work.”
Badaki also noted that male fans often tell her how much they love the character, but that they’re a little afraid of her.
“That’s how it should be for all women, I think,” she said with a laugh to a great deal of female applause.
The Lynching of Shadow Moon
There was also plenty of applause from the ladies for Whittle, who portrays the series’ protagonist, Shadow Moon. Whittle is the opposite of his dry, stoic character; he ran around the stage telling stories, jumped off and hugged a fan, and even dove headfirst back onto the stage in what he called his “John Cena move”.
While Whittle is very different from the character he portrays, he could still draw upon his own difficult experiences for some of Shadow’s more painful moments. Perhaps the most shocking and powerful moment for Shadow is his lynching at the hands of Technical Boy and his goons, which really struck a chord for Whittle.
“[Shadow hanging] is such a powerful visual. It’s reminding the public that we seem to think that this stuff’s over. Police brutality and equality and that sort of stuff. Here you have a black man hung from a tree surrounded by faceless goons dressed all in white. It doesn’t get more on the nose than that,” he said.
Whittle said that many fans assume because he’s British, he hasn’t experienced the same kind of prejudice as black Americans, but that they were, unfortunately, dead wrong.
“When I’m the only black kid in school, I’m gonna receive some racism. I was a British kid in an Irish school. For people to think I don’t understand racism because I’m not from America is insane,” he explained. “I would love if racism was only in America and not everywhere else, but I was able to draw upon very personal experiences for all of those roles.”
A Story of Immigrants
Much like the gods who came across the ocean, neither Badaki, Whittle, nor Schrieber are originally from the U.S. The series deals heavily with the immigrant experience, and what it means to be an outsider in a new place.
To cement the theme, many of the characters had backstory segments in Season one showing their origins. These stories depict the challenges each character faced and highlighted their journey as newcomers to America. Orlando Jones’ Mr. Nancy has the most powerful of these segments, in which he appears aboard a slave ship and delivers a speech about the future of black folk in America. It’s rousing, brilliant television, and it’s come just at the right time.
“With the timing of the release of the show, [immigration] became a huge focus of conversation of marketing around it,” Schreiber said. “With the timing of the president getting elected and immigration becoming such an issue, [the show] definitely has those tones in it and we don’t shy away from it.”
Season 1 of American Gods is available on Blu-Ray and DVD October 17.