Anansi Boys
The Hollywood Report has announced that the Amazon series Anansi Boys, based on the book of the same name by Neil Gaiman, has found its protagonist in Delroy Lindo.The actor of Da 5 Bloods is was welcomed by Neil Gaiman, who is writing and producing the transposition of his 2005 book, a spin off of American Gods, also already transposed by Amazon.
Delroy Lindo is a giant of the stage and screen , we are really lucky to have him with us. [...] I can't wait to see him use his seriousness and his charm for Anansi Boys, impersonating this unreliable father with secrets.
The actor starred in Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods, in which black veterans return to Vietnam to search for the remains of their team leader. Lindo was also lawyer Adrian Boseman on The Good Fight and had several roles in 90s films such as Get Shorty, The Cider House Rules and Gone in Sixty Seconds. ).
Announced a few days ago, Anansi Boys will be a 6-episode spin off of American Gods. The protagonist, Charlie Nancy, discovers he is the son of the African god of stories and deception Anansi, seeing his own shocked by him and his new brother Spider.
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The god Anansi has already appeared in American Gods, played by Orlando Jones. The actor was banned from the series starting in season three, as his portrayal of Mr Nancy was sending the wrong message to the black American community in the opinion of writer Charles Eglee.
If you are interested in the new Amazon series, you could buy on Amazon the book from which it will be taken at this link, together with that of American Gods and the comics taken from the latter published by Oscar Ink Mondadori .
There are few other details in this regard. We know the series will begin production later this year, and will shoot in Scotland. Along with Gaiman, Anansi Boys will also be produced by Sir Lenny Henry, Douglas Mackinnon, Hanelle M. Culpepper, Hilary Bevan Jones and Richard Fee.
About Delroy Lindo, the actor was one of the stars of the film by Spike Lee From 5 Bloods, in which some black veterans return to Vietnam to search for the remains of their team leader. Lindo was also lawyer Adrian Boseman on The Good Fight and had several roles in 90s films such as Get Shorty, The Cider House Rules and Gone in Sixty Seconds. ).
‘Anansi Boys’: Delroy Lindo Lands Lead Role in Amazon’s Neil Gaiman Drama
The six-episode limited series will begin shooting this year in Scotland.
Delroy Lindo Courtesy of Harper Collins; Roy Rochlin/Getty ImagesAmazon and Neil Gaiman have found their new Mr. Nancy/Anansi.
The Good Fight alum Delroy Lindo has landed the coveted lead role in the retail giant/streamer’s straight-to-series adaptation of Gaiman’s 2005 fantasy novel Anansi Boys.
The six-episode limited series — formally greenlit last week following a years-long development process — follows Charlie Nancy, a young man who is used to being embarrassed by his estranged father. But when his father dies, Charlie discovers that his father was Anansi: trickster god of stories. And he learns that he has a brother. Now his brother, Spider, is entering Charlie’s life, determined to make it more interesting, but also making it a lot more dangerous.
Lindo will take on the lead role of Anansi/Mr. Nancy, who is described as a charming man who cheated on Charlie’s mother and who had another side to him as the god of stories and trickery.
“Delroy Lindo is a giant of the stage and the screen, and we are so lucky to have him,” Gaiman said Wednesday. “I cannot wait to see his gravitas and charm being deployed for the benefit of Anansi Boys, as he plays an unreliable father with hidden depths.”
The perpetually in-demand Lindo recently earned critical praise for his role in Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods. His impressive roster of credits include Malcolm X, The Cider House Rules, Gone in 60 Seconds, Get Shorty and the upcoming Netflix feature The Harder They Fall. He’s also set to direct the indie feature Jabari’s People. On the TV side, Lindo had a four-season tenure on Paramount+’s The Good Fight and his Peabody-winning work on Strange Justice. The Tony-nominated actor most recently starred in ABC pilot Harlem’s Kitchen. While the network was high on the script, the drama was a victim of the pandemic and never moved forward. Lindo is repped by APA.
As THR previously reported, Anansi Boys has no connection to fellow Gaiman drama American Gods. That series, which aired for three seasons on Starz before being abruptly canceled, featured fan-favorite Orlando Jones as Mr. Nancy (aka Anansi). Jones — who contributed writing amid the troubled second season of the Fremantle-produced series — said he was fired from the series after Charles “Chic” Eglee (Dexter) decided his character was sending the “wrong message for Black America.” Jones is not expected to have a role in Amazon’s Anansi Boys.
Gaiman (who has an overall deal with Amazon) and Douglas Mackinnon will reunite on the project as co-showrunners after the latter directed all six episodes of Amazon’s Good Omens. Gaiman and Lenny Henry — who narrated an audiobook and has voiced Spider and Anansi in BBC radio productions — are on board as writers on the series alongside Arvind Ethan David (Jagged Little Pill), Kara Smith and Racheal Ofori. Gaiman, Henry, Mackinnon, Hanelle M. Culpepper, Hilary Bevan Jones and Richard Fee exec produce the series. Culpepper (Star Trek: Picard) will direct the pilot, with Jermain Julien (Grantchester) and Azhur Saleem (Doctor Who) also helming episodes. Paul Frift will produce. Amazon Studios, the Blank Corp., Endor Productions and RED Production produce the series.
A premiere time frame for the series has not yet been determined.