Before we go any further, know this: there are major, game-changing spoilers that lie ahead in this post. Spoilers that don’t even happen in the book—so don’t say we didn’t warn ya, American Gods fans.
We’ve long said that the Starz iteration of American Gods has done a truly impressive job at expanding the role of Shadow Moon’s wife, Laura. And that already layered and nuanced expansion is about to get even more exciting with the introduction of another “Coming to America” story by way of Essie MacGowan (called Essie Tregowan in Neil Gaiman’s novel). Telling the tale of how Mad Sweeney made his way across the pond to our neck of the woods, the episode adds a link to the beliefs of the more, say, down and out among us.
In the book, Essie Tregowan is a woman from Cornwall who’s considered a con artist, thief, and prostitute. But she has a long-held belief in the leprechauns who’ve been foretold to bring luck to those who believe in them, and leave them milk and bread and other treats at night. In the TV series, Essie MacGowan gets a larger turn, and possibly/maybe mirrors what’s going on with Sweeney and Laura in the series before (and to come)!
But don’t just take our word for it — there’s a clip here from the episode! And on Monday, we’ll even have an interview with Mad Sweeney (a.k.a. Pablo Schreiber himself) about everything that goes down in episode 7, “A Prayer for Mad Sweeney.”
Well, in an interview with Variety, co-showrunner Bryan Fuller explained it thusly: “We were talking about casting that role, and as we were in that conversation, Michael [Green] said, ‘Oh, we should just cast Emily in this role.’ And then we went to talk to Emily, and it was like, ‘So, the Essie episode’ — she was like,’‘Have you cast that actor yet? Because I think I should play her.’ And we were like, ‘Well, that just worked out well.'”
Needless to say, we’re deeply excited for the continually evolving world of American Gods. Are you? Let us know in the comments below!
Images: Starz
Alicia Lutes is the Managing Editor of Nerdist and creator/co-host of Fangirling. Find her on Twitter (because she’s an unfortunate slave to the new gods).Â
