American Gods is one of the most hotly anticipated television series of 2017. Created by Bryan Fuller and Michael Green and anchored to the Starz network, fans of the original novel by Neil Gaiman are excited to see what fantasy lies in store.
Ricky Whittle is starring as Shadow Moon, a man who has spent three years in prison. After receiving a surprise early release, Shadow Moon learns that his wife, Laura (played by Emily Browning), has been murdered. Ian McShane, Pablo Schreiber, Crispin Glover, and Cloris Leachman will also be featured in the television series.
Today, Indiewire announced the exciting news that the premiere of American Gods will be shown on Saturday morning at SXSW 2017, before its official premiere on Starz on April 30th. However, any fans eager to hear early news about the series will be disappointed. It appears that Starz has approved an embargo on official reviews.
That means to say that when television critics enjoy the first episode of American Gods this weekend, they will not be allowed to write their opinions on the show. SXSW is also showing The Son, Dear White People, I’m Dying Up Here, Nobodies, and I Love Bekka and Lucy, but only the Starz series is embargoed this year. Since the opinions of television critics often shape the audience of a show, the decision to silence them is rather convoluted. Starz released a statement about this decision, saying, “The network has requested press respect the embargo since they will be receiving the first four episodes for review shortly after the screening. Unlike film, reviewers of episodic television prefer to review off more than just the pilot episode.”
Because of the embargo, the audience for American Gods may be able to make their own decisions about the series. This is important to the network, since American Gods plays an integral part in their lineup this year, but the move is interesting nonetheless. So while some critics may be lucky enough to see American Gods this weekend, the rest of us will still have to twiddle our thumbs until April.