Former Hollyoaks star Ricky Whittle lands the lead role in Neil Gaiman's American Gods
From Hollyoaks to Hollywood, it's big news for the British actor
You might know him best as Hollyoaks' Calvin Valentine or even Lincoln on The 100, but British actor Ricky Whittle is adding another name to his roster of aliases: 'Shadow Moon'.
Whittle's just been cast as the lead in Starz's adaptation of Neil Gaiman's American Gods, a novel about an ex-con called Shadow Moon who’s roped into a plot by down-on-his-luck Norse god Odin to band together other fading deities from a variety of cultures and take on the “new gods” of America.
And it seems as though the author is pretty pleased with his new leading man.
“I'm thrilled that Ricky has been cast as Shadow," Gaiman continued in an official statement.
"His auditions were remarkable. The process of taking a world out of the pages of a book and putting it onto the screen has begun. American Gods is, at its heart, a book about immigrants, and it seems perfectly appropriate that Shadow will, like so much else, be coming to America. I'm delighted Ricky will get to embody Shadow. Now the fun starts.”
The author didn't stop there, promising that the show would be as diverse as the novel.
They are casting #AmericanGods by the book. No whitewash allowed. RT @NoItsRebecca: Thanks for not allowing white-washing to take place.
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) January 28, 2016
