Bryan Fuller’s ‘American Gods’ Summons ‘Hannibal’ Director David Slade

We’ll never stop mourning the absence of future Hannibal (at least until that mini-series finally gets greenlit), but some good finally seems to have come of its end. Frequent Hannibal director David Slade will join creator Bryan Fuller on Neil Gaiman Starz adaptation American Gods, both as director and producer.

Per Deadline, Slade will direct the pilot and several additional American Gods installments, also serving as an executive producer alongside Fuller and Gaiman. The series has already entered pre-production, and is expected to bow sometime in 2017.

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. A few years ago, HBO had in mind to develop the drama with Tom Hanks’ Playtone, though the project eventually fell through.

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. Production was to begin upon the casting of “Shadow Moon,” of which Starz encouraged fans to weigh in, though no announcements have yet been made.

Well, does American Gods look to be in good hands with a Hannibal reunion? Who else might join the series on the road to 2017?