Starz excommunicates American Gods, but it may get a TV movie finale

It took a few years longer than anyone expected it to after all the behind-the-scenes drama early on, but American Gods has been canceled. The show’s third season just ended last week, wrapping things up in such a way that seemed to imply that one final season would at least be a possibility, but no, this is the end for the troubled Neil Gaiman adaptation—or is it? Yes, as is the case with everything involving American Gods, this isn’t totally straightforward. According to Deadline, the show has been canceled and Starz will not be ordering a fourth season, buuut there are apparently “discussions” going on about giving the show a proper send-off with a TV movie or event series.

Deadline points out that something like that seems unlikely, since the show’s ratings have seen “double-digit” declines every season, but putting together some kind of proper finale and closing the book on the story would at least generate some goodwill for the show’s remaining fans (not to mention Neil Gaiman, who has maintained his involvement in American Gods). Again, though, it probably won’t happen.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the network thanked everyone involve from being Gaiman’s “ever-relevant story to life” in a way that “speaks to the cultural climate of our country.” The series starred Ricky Whittle and Ian McShane, and (at one point or another) also featured Pablo Schreiber, Crispin Glover, Orlando Jones, Emily Browning, and Yetide Badaki. It was originally developed by Bryan Fuller and Michael Green, but issues involving how much control they wanted to have over the story and Starz’s budget concerns drove them to quit/get fired before the second season.