Neil Gaiman has announced that his novel, Anansi Boys, is in production to become a six-episode TV series on Amazon Prime TV. This makes the third of Gaiman's books to become a series ‒‒ the other two being Good Omens and American Gods.
Douglas Mackinnon agreed to co-showrun it with me, because I knew I never wanted to be the sole showrunner of anything again and after the Good Omens experience I would trust Douglas with my life and (which actually may be more important) with my stories. We planned to shoot it all around the world...
Paul Frift had been the producer of Good Omens during the South African leg of the shoot, and was indomitable, so we were very happy when he agreed to come on board as our producer.
And then in 2020 Covid happened. The Prime Directive of making Big Budget International television suddenly became “Don't Travel and Especially Don't Travel All Around The World. We Mean It.”
Douglas came up with a Plan to bring Anansi Boys to the screen that was audacious, creative and brilliant. All we needed to make it work was the Biggest Studio in Europe and access to an awful lot of cutting edge technology.
The biggest Studio in Europe happens to be in Leith, outside Edinburgh.
Before Covid, the plan had been first to make Anansi Boys, then immediately to make Good Omens 2. (Good Omens 2 was going to be shot in Bathgate, outside Glasgow.) That was the plan we were working on through most of 2020. Then, in September 2020, Douglas and I got a call from Amazon. “We've got good news and complicated news for you,” they said. “The good news is we are greenlighting both Good Omens and Anansi Boys. The complicated news is... well, how do you feel about making them both at the same time?”
So...
Anansi Boys is coming.
I am looking forward to this. I've not read the book but have heard enough of the BBC audio adaptation to figure I should enjoy it. I do hope it turns out better than American Gods, which was a disappointment. If it's as good as Good Omens, I will be very happy.
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