American Gods season 2’s ratings have fell sharply, like Icarus plummeting earthwards. The season 2 premiere’s ratings (0.52 million) were a third smaller than the season 1 finale (0.774 million), and one-third of that shrunk audience didn’t return for the second episode of season 2, with the viewership declining steadily ever since (the latest episode only scored 0.336 million viewers).

Based on the award-winning novel by Neil Gaiman, American Gods tells the story of a man named Shadow Moon and how he is drawn into the conflict between the gods of the Old World and the New World gods that draw power from forces like Technology or Globalization. The first season was a smash hit with both critics and viewers, earning a 92% fresh rating from critics and an 84% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. The second season hasn’t fared as well, dropping to a 55% fresh rating with critics and a 79% audience score.

While still viewed favorably, American Gods is, much like many of its Old God characters, not nearly as impressive as it once was. There are a variety of reasons for the dramatic downturn in the show’s fortunes, ranging from production delays that sapped the series’ momentum to behind-the-scenes drama over a change in management. This has left the fate of the show up in the air, with many wondering if it will now see Neil Gaiman’s prophecized six seasons and a spin-off based on the follow-up novel Anansi Boys.

  • This Page: American Gods Season 2’s Delays, Production Issues & Recasting Page 2: American Gods Season 2’s Quality Drop & The Show’s Weirdness

American Gods Season 2 Took Too Long To Return & Had Major Production Issues

Season 2 of American Gods premiered on March 10, 2019. This was the better part of two years after season 1 concluded in June of 2017. While this wait is comparable to that between the last two seasons of Game of Thrones, American Gods does not have so large an established fan-base as the HBO fantasy series and faces a greater challenge in holding its audience’s interest. American Gods also had a vastly different reason for its delays than the longer shooting schedule required for Game of Thrones season 8.

The troubles for American Gods began shortly after the end of season 1, when the original executive producers and showrunners Michael Green and Bryan Fuller quit. The two reportedly had a disagreement with Freemantle Media and Starz regarding concerns over the amount of time it was taking to write the scripts for season 2. There was also a clash over the show’s budget, which was apparently planned to be dramatically cut after season 1 went $30 million over-budget.

Ironically, the departure of Green and Fuller would only aggravate the issues Starz and Freemantle Media had with their management of American Gods. Production on season 2 was further delayed as the network searched for a new showrunner, which only served to further drain the budget and slow the writing of new scripts. Jesse Alexander (an executive producer on Lost and Alias) was brought in to manage the mess American Gods had become, but he was not any better at satisfying the Powers That Be. Alexander was fired some six months after he had accepted the job, apparently locked out of the studio and denied the right to oversee the final editing and effects work on season 2.

Read More: American Gods Loses Another Showrunner Amid BTS Turmoil

American Gods’ Ensemble Doesn’t Have Many Big Name Actors (And Many Have Left)

Shortly after Green and Fuller stepped down as showrunners on American Gods, actress Gillian Anderson, who played the role of the New God Media, announced that she was leaving the show as well. Kristin Chenoweth, who played the goddess of spring, Ostara, followed suit shortly thereafter. Both actresses were fiercely loyal to Fuller, having previously worked with him on the series Hannibal and Pushing Daisies respectively.

The departure of Anderson and Chenoweth can be tied directly to American Gods’ declining ratings in season 2. Both actresses possess fanatical followings, who will watch anything they are involved in. Doubtlessly many of these fans saw no reason to continue watching once the two actresses left the show.

This points to another problem that American Gods’ has had in maintaining its audience - a lack of central star power. While the show possesses a fantastic ensemble containing some talented actors, few of them had the same devout fanbase as Chenoweth or Anderson. The ensemble-driven narrative of American Gods has done little to help this, with some of the biggest names tied to the show only appearing in one or two episodes before exiting the narrative.

Page 2 of 2: American Gods Season 2’s Quality Drop & The Show’s Weirdness

American Gods Season 2 Spent Too Much Time On Set-Up & Has No Real Direction

The departure of Gillian Anderson and Kristin Chenoweth further delayed the start of production on American Gods season 2, as the scripts had to be rewritten to explain the absence of the two goddesses. In the case of Anderson, this necessitated recasting her role completely, given that Media is one of the three most prominent members of the series’ New Gods. The season 2 premiere revealed that Media had gone into hiding to heal herself, eventually “upgrading” into New Media - a goddess who drew power from Internet memes and apps as well as television and movies.

Explaining Chenoweth’s absence proved somewhat more difficult, as the American Gods season 1 finale ended with Ostara siding with the Old Gods and showing her loyalty with a grand display in which she blighted the land after reclaiming her role as the goddess of spring. Unlike Media, there was no way to easily recast the character with a new actress and no way to smoothly claim she had been reborn in a new form in the script. In the end, Ostara’s absence from the gathering of Old Gods in the season 2 premiere was hand-waved away, with Mr. Nancy telling Mr. Wednesday that she wasn’t coming on account of Wednesday’s mowing over her bunnies with his car when he visited her one episode earlier.

Establishing all of this took up valuable time from the early episodes of season 2, with New Media not making her first appearance until episode 3. This would have been problematic enough without the pacing of season 2 being far more leisurely than in season 1. All sense of urgency vanished after the death of Zorya Vechernyaya in the season 2 premiere, with most of the show’s ensemble just hanging around a funeral parlor in Cairo, Illinois for nearly one-quarter of the season so far.

While individual characters are still working towards their personal goals, such as Mad Sweeney and Laura Moon’s mutual mission to get Laura resurrected, the central story of the war between the gods seems to have been put on hold completely.  While this does make for a wonderful ensemble program, allowing all of the core cast a little time to shine, it also makes it seem like American Gods season 2 is meandering to hide its lack of a strong central plot. Even the show’s subplots have begun to seem like pointless shaggy dog stories, such as Laura and Mad Sweeney’s trip to New Orleans in search of the death god Baron Samedi. The trip did nothing to expand upon the characters or their circumstances and seemingly served no purpose other than to provoke two gratuitous sex scenes.

One point worth considering in the wake of American Gods’ declining ratings is that the show is too strange to ever find mainstream appeal. While Neil Gaiman is a best-selling author who is famous for reinterpreting classical mythology and legends in his work, that doesn’t mean an adaptation of one of his novels will play in Peoria. Indeed, with controversial concepts such as every denomination of Christianity having their own version of Jesus, it’s a wonder the show’s first season didn’t inspire widespread protest among evangelicals akin to the complaints over Lucifer - another show based on Gaiman’s work.

At this point, it seems that American Gods’ greatest chances of finding success lie in establishing itself as a cult classic among a devout few, rather than petitioning broad appeal. Amusingly, Mr. Wednesday seems to preach this viewpoint in “The Ways of the Dead,” saying that he doesn’t mind monotheists like the character of Salim, who is a devout Muslim, despite being the leader of a polytheistic pantheon. To Wednesday’s way of thinking, it is better to encourage fervor in a few followers (even if they are not his own) than to accept the muted praises of many. Even so, it would be to the benefit of American Gods and its viewership for the show to start pushing forward with its central story.

More: American Gods Season 2 Character Guide: Meet The New Gods