Bryan Fuller’s ‘American Gods’ Loses ‘Mad Sweeney,’ Director of Photography

Bryan Fuller’s Starz adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods finally got up and running before cameras, but not without a few snags. Not only has Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation baddie Sean Harris exited the role of Mad Sweeney, but so too has a clash in direction put the series behind schedule, and in need of a new director of photography.

Per Deadline, Harris was to play the role of down-on-his-luck Leprechaun figure “Mad Sweeney,” but had to bow out for unspecified personal reasons. Upon recasting, Fuller will reshoot the few scenes that Harris had already completed.

Additionally a small delay in production has led to original director of photography Brendan Glavin being replaced with Hunger Games franchise alum Jo Willems, reportedly over Glavin not being “completely in synch” with director David Slade’s vision. Said production company Fremantle of the transition:

We are thrilled to welcome Jo Willems as our DP. Jo and David Slade have had a long-standing creative partnership and have collaborated on various projects. The chemistry between a director and his DP are vital and when Jo became available to join David on American Gods, we jumped at the opportunity to have him on the team.

In addition to Crispin Glover as Mr. World, Jonathan Tucker as Low-Key Lyesmith, Yetide Badaki as Bilquis and Bruce Langley as “Technical Boy,” Gods features The 100 star Ricky Whittle as Shadow Moon, Ian McShane as Mr. Wednedsay and Emily Browning as Shadow’s wife Laura Moon.

For those unfamiliar with Sandman creator Gaiman’s novel, American Gods follows ex-convict Shadow Moon, who partners up with mysterious con-man Mr. Wednesday (secretly a god himself), becoming embroiled in a battle between classic mythological gods who have fallen out of style, and the “new” American gods based on greed, technology and celebrity.

Hannibal creator Fuller and Heroes alum Michael Green will write and and showrun the series, with Gaiman acting as EP (and writing a few episodes), produced by FremantleMedia North America. As with Hannibal, David Slade will also direct episodes (including the pilot), as well as produce.

We’ll hear plenty more in the coming months, but what other hiccups might we expect from Starz and Fuller’s adaptation of American Gods?