American Gods' Metal Odiiiiinnnnn!

In Neil Gaiman's American Gods the operating premise for the divine is that the Gods are regionally bound and that their existence & power depends upon those who believe & worship them. In Starz' TV adaptation, Season 3's opening addresses Viking Metal's celebration & reclamation of Heathen Nordic contexts by kicking off with this scene of faux band Blood Death lead by Johan Wengren (Marilyn Manson!?!):


As the story of the ancient Old Gods versus the emergent New Gods of Technology unfolds, we see the Old Gods adapting some of that technology in order to garner digital followers, and Odin (the venerable Ian McShane) connecting with metalheads, bikers, and aggro fans, which seems appropriate for Mr Wednesday who banks on & rewards those of the warrior ethos.

The teleplays expands in notable degrees upon the book, backgrounding & filling out minor characters into fan favourites, and giving us such clever lines as Wednesday's: "Ask and you shall be Embla'd." Given that we as viewers are essentially hired with Shadow to serve Mr Wednesday, and in its way shows the Gods' relevance into the modern day, the show is a highly recommended NorsePlay.

Addenda 3/10/2023: So the show cliffhangs at the end of S3, which is where Starz cancels it. As of this writing, the production company & Gaiman do wish to finish the show with either a TV movie or a event series, but as it stands, unless you've read the book, you're not getting an ending. While this lack of final visual interpretation may prove frustrating, I still don't think this is a dealbreaker, but after finding this out (and honestly, I still totally thought they were going to wrap it all up in that last episode) NorsePlay felt it best to warn you.

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Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires' Norse Gods and Giants at age seven. Since then he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the Map of Midgard project, and spearheaded the neologism/brand NorsePlay. If you have employment/opportunities in investigative mythology,  field research, or product development to offer, do contact him. 

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