American Gods: 11 Things You Need To Know

7. The Old Gods And The New

As the series unfolds, what we'll see is the brewing battle between the Old Gods and the New; a battle the world is unaware of, and yet could have a major impact on its future.

Batting for the Old Gods, you've got team captain Odin, aka the All-Father, who stems from Norse mythology. Then there's Easter (Chenoweth), or Ēostre, a Germanic goddess; Mr Nancy (Jones), or Anansi, an African trickster God; Zorya (Cloris Leachman), who represents the Zorja, Slavic guardian goddesses who represent the Morning and Evening Star; Czernobog (Stormare), the Slavic deity Chernobog, a dark God; Mr Ibis and Mr Jacquel (Demore Barnes and Chris Obi respectively), who represent Egyptian deities Thoth and Anubis; the Jinn (Mousa Kraish), who hail from Arabian mythology; Bilquis (Bakadi), who represents the biblical Queen of Sheba; and Low Key Lythsmith (Jonathan Baxer) who, well, you can probably figure that one out...

That's quite a melting pot of cultures and mythologies, and should make for an extremely varied mix of characters and powers amongst its diverse cast.

The New Gods is a little bit more straightforward. They're led by Mr World, an omniscient figure who understands the threat of the Old Gods. His ranks include Technical Boy, who represents Technology, and Media (Anderson), who is the public face of the New Gods.

Finally there's Vulcan, who comes from the Roman God of Fire. He's a new addition purely for the series, although still created by Gaiman, but his loyalties are more obscured: he's now bound himself to guns, and thus - unlike his fellow Old Gods - is doing very well for himself in this new world.