Amazon’s Anansi Boys adaptation has found its lead in Malachi Kirby (Small Axe, Roots), Deadline reports. Kirby will tackle the dual roles of brothers Charles Nancy and Spider in the TV series based on Neil Gaiman’s (The Sandman, American Gods) novel of the same name.
“Malachi Kirby is an actor of astonishing sensitivity, charm, and power,” Gaiman said according to Deadline. “We needed somebody who could bring us the humanity of Charlie and the godly dangerousness of Spider; who could play two very different characters and who could in many ways carry the show. We found Malachi, and I am so thrilled that we did. He’s astonishing,” Gaiman stated via Deadline.
According to Deadline, Kirby is set to join Delroy Lindo (The Good Fight, Da 5 Bloods) who has been cast as the brothers’ father, Mr. Nancy. This character was most recently depicted by Orlando Jones (Sleepy Hollow, Double Take) on the Starz fantasy series, American Gods, based on Gaiman’s book of the same name. The new series has established there is no connection to the Starz series, which was canceled earlier this year after three seasons.
Gaiman and Douglas Mackinnon (The Flying Scotsman, Good Omens) will serve as co-showrunners, according to Deadline. They will be joined by series writer Sir Lenny Henry (True Identity, Zog) who did voice work for the novel’s audiobook. The pilot will be directed by Hanelle M. Culpepper (Deadly Sibling Rivalry, Within).
Anansi Boys is the second Gaiman series Amazon has on its roster. The streaming service debuted the comedy series, Good Omens, in 2019. Pulling from Gaiman and Terry Pratchet’s (The Colour of Magic, Mort) 1990 fantasy novel, the show stars Michael Sheen (Underworld, Prodigal Son) and David Tennant (gen:Lock, Jessica Jones) as two angels joining forces to prevent the end of the world. The series was renewed for second season in June. Gaiman also is prepping an onscreen adaptation of Sandman over at Netflix.
Anansi Boys is set to begin production of its six-part season later this year in Scotland.