The Lemon-Scented You: An Interview With Ricky Whittle From ‘American Gods’

Actor Ricky Whittle had never read Neil Gaiman‘s book when he was cast for the lead role in the adaptation for Starz‘ new show. But showrunners Bryan Fuller and Michael Green wanted a different approach for the main character in American Gods.

Whittle’s portrayal of Shadow Moon was one of the strongest aspects of the new series. The character is stretched beyond the limits of his understanding, forced into impossible scenarios, subjected to insane improbabilities that no man should be forced to witness.

It’s certainly made the show better as only people who have read the book (or read the Wikipedia entry) would know what the hell is going on — it forces audiences into the same situations as Whittle’s character.

Shadow Moon’s world is ripped asunder and over the course of the eight-episode first season, he slowly begins to compile a new found sense of what’s real and what isn’t. And then the season ends with a major cliffhanger that’s set to tear down everything he’s built with Mr. Wednesday so far.

We had the opportunity to discuss the new series with Whittle, getting insight into his character and how Shadow Moon is dealing with this crazy new world, as well as get some hints for the show’s future when it returns for Season 2. Check it out below.

Have you read the novel at this point?

I read it afterwards, and I’m glad that they stopped me reading the novel because we really did have to work on adapting him to screen. It was a lot of pressure because technically, although it’s a fictional character, because he’s been in the minds, of people’s minds for 16 years, it’s almost like a biography. You know?

Because people have such a solid opinion and idea of who this character was, Shadow Moon, that I really need Bryan Fuller and Michael Green to kind of guide me. Not only to just keep that responsibility and keep that character recognizable for them, but to make him pop enough to be watchable for TV. The fact that the reaction has been what it was where that they said, they liked my casting but it wasn’t until they saw me on screen where they were really, truly excited by Shadow Moon. Which is a nice kind of feeling to have when there’s so much pressure trying to bring this character they’ve loved for so long to life. And that’s down to not reading the book but actually just trusting the team around me.

They’ve got Neil Gaiman‘s ear, they know the book inside out. And so it’s just giving them that trust. So literally I think it’s all definitely down to Bryan and Michael just being fantastic leaders and giving me all the information I needed to make my choices in that first season.

So Season 2 will be different because now I have read the book, but having read the book and knowing what’s going on in the season I also know that they’re willing to really deviate from the book and go in completely different directions. Despite reading the book, we really can play with Shadow however we want because by Season 2, fans will be used to what we’re doing as our characters.

Who is your favorite character in American Gods?

From the book? I’ve got to say Shadow Moon, he’s the man! [laughs] But he really is to me, because at the end of the day I think he really does symbolize a beautiful thing and that’s that constant quest for hope.

This guy is, when we meet him, he didn’t know his dad, his mom died when he was younger, his wife dies, he gets beaten up by faceless goons, he’s attacked by a 6’5″ leprechaun. He constantly gets beaten down both mentally and physically throughout this show and throughout the book and he keeps getting up and moving forward. And I think it takes incredible strength.

You know, he’s known for being a big guy but it’s that mental strength that he possesses to keep moving forward. And I think that’s actually quite inspirational. He’s not just a big dumb ex con, he’s very intelligent and when you start going toe to toe with the gods, it’s not only brave, but it takes real courage. So he really is for me quite an inspirational character.



With regards to the TV show, I’m really in love with Mad Sweeney’s character played by Pablo Schreiber. I think his dynamic with Emily Browning is hilarious and a lot of fun. His comedy timing is fantastic and I’m looking forward to seeing people’s reactions to that…

That’s gonna be huge because that’s such a bit part of the book and it’s literally a standalone episode you know, it doesn’t really further the story but it’s one of those Coming to America kind of vignettes extended and you know Emily, Pablo, everyone involved in that episode is fantastic. It just gives a nice insight to that character and shows more great acting chops from those two.

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How is it being pretty much the only character in the show who doesn’t have a sinister agenda?

It’s very interesting because he’s literally the only person who doesn’t know what’s going on. Even his wife Laura gets clued in before he does. She arrives late, she died and all sorts, and yet Shadow’s the one that’s not got a clue.

And it’s tough as the actor because in the book, Neil Gaiman writes these fantastic, beautiful, flowing inner monologues which I don’t say in the show and we don’t narrate. So I have to kind of portray all this within my eyes and play it all inside whilst everyone else is talking. And I also have to kind of constantly remain engaged in everything that everyone’s saying which is very taxing as an actor because in real life we often switch off… but I can’t allow that because we enter this show through Shadow’s eyes and if Shadow switches off, I allow audience switch off.

So I’ve got to constantly remain engaged in everything that everyone says. It’s tough but- It’s a very confusing book, it’s a very confusing show, and as you … build this kind of puzzle, as he starts to figure out and piece together this crazy puzzle and work things out, you come along with him.

Audiences nowadays are so lazy, they want to know everything straight away. We are giving the audience credit and saying, “look, bear with us, we’re not going to tell you everything, you’re going to learn as Shadow learns.” Which is the only sort of negative that I’ve heard from the show so far but it’s only from people who don’t know the book. So they’re confused, and it’s by design. They’re meant to be confused because Shadow is confused.

So it’s going to be interesting as they stay with it and they realize as Shadow learns, they kinda learn … Maybe they’ll figure things out before Shadow, they probably will because Shadow, despite being an intelligent dude, he’s definitely last to the table.

It’s interesting to see what’ll happen in Season 2 because it seems like that’s the moment where, in that finale, he kind of realizes “OK, I’m buying all in because I’ve just seen some crazy shit.”

Yeah! This is something that Bryan Fuller and Michael Green talked to Neil Gaiman about. In the book, Shadow goes straight into it and goes along with the fact of seeing Gods and magical things and he’s very blasé and laid back about it.

Bryan and Michael kind of decided that in TV, you’re losing friction, you’re losing a bit of a fight, and so decided to prolong Shadow’s cynicism… and just make him not believe until later on to allow that friction, to allow that kind of disbelief, that pushback, which I think added to the show as well.

I think the audience will believe more than Shadow because obviously they’re seeing a lot more and they know what’s going on is more real than what Shadow realizes. Shadow’s big problem is, is he going insane? Is he going crazy? … That’s probably the most frightening thing in the world, probably more so than gods, that he’s actually losing his mind. Yeah. I love it, love it.

It’s interesting to see how you maintain this skepticism through the entire season in subtle different ways. It’s pretty awesome how you can come up with so many different ways of saying “what the f**k is going on?”

Thank you so much. … It’s tough as an an actor because you’re just doing things. And there’s only so many faces, there’s only so many reactions you can have for your “what the f**k” face. I’m told I’ve got a very good “what the f**k” face. And I just had to put variations on that and try and figure and out where he is in trying to figure all this out.

Does he think it’s real and he’s trying to come around? Does he think he’s just insane? Does he think it’s completely like a trick? Is he being conned?

There’s so many different ways that I had to take it and I do appreciate you noticing the small things that I’m trying to squeeze out there. I think that’s props to the way it’s shot allowing me to convey all of the smallest of movements. I didn’t want to make it too big, I wanted to keep everything subtle. 

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What was it like filming the ‘Lemon Scented You’ scene where the new gods show up and blow the doors off the hinges.

Literally what you see from Shadow Moon was pretty much half Shadow, half Ricky. Because what you see there is so bizarre. “Is that… that’s a rainbow? What’s going on.”

I didn’t see any of that tape or any of that stuff until we shot because I wanted to give a real reaction. And literally, I’m looking at that stuff as if to say “what the hell am I watching?” … They surprised us with that set on the day as well, so I was sort of amazed that the whole room turned into, like, a big cinema. It was a very real reaction.

And then to be surrounded by actors such as Gillian Anderson, so all of a sudden I’m able to use that kind of awe of an incredible actor that I’ve looked up to through the years and grew up with in X-Files to Shadow taking in her as Marilyn Monroe. I was able to substitute that feeling.

And then Crispin Glover, I was a huge fan of his as well and he comes in. The only kind of take on him is that I’m not as fond of him because he comes in and is very direct and aggressive toward Wednesday. And he also knows a bit too much about myself in those scenes which was kind of fortunate for me. 

What was the most difficult scene to film?


Click here to learn about when Ricky Whittle almost got hypothermia filming a scene for ‘American Gods.‘

Mentally, the toughest would have been the first time he sees Laura in his hotel room. We shot that a couple of times because it appears throughout different episodes. It kind of leaves you with a cliffhanger for two episodes and then you finally get to see their conversation. And I think it was one of the first scenes we actually shot, myself and Emily. So it was just trying to find our way.

It’s such an emotional moment where he’s found out that his wife was dead, his wife had an affair, the affair was with his best friend, his best friend was dead, and now his wife’s come back from the dead? It’s a lot to input for anyone, to figure that out, and to keep that emotion bubbling — not overflowing because we didn’t want him to come across as either too weak or either too “over it” as well.

There was a very fine balance, especially with the way Emily [Browning] played Laura, who is so, like “Look, Shadow, you were away for three years; what was I supposed to do? Yeah, I’m back from the dead. It’s fine. Apparently that’s what happens.” That’s just another thing put in front of Shadow where he’s just trying to get his head around everything. Surely he’s just going insane. And when he leaves the room he still doesn’t know if that was real. He’s just had a five minute conversation with his dead wife, and he still doesn’t know whether that happened or not. And it was a very tough position to portray.

But I was really happy with it and the scene in the hotel room, when they’re talking and she’s in the bath, is one of my favorite scenes of the season. I think it’s just so tender and real and you really feel for these two as they begin this crazy… love story.


[Emily Browning] is awesome. She’s such a bad ass. And I loved finding out that it was her whooping ass. She’s a superhero basically. Emily Browning is, like, no bigger than your thumb. She’s tiny. And she’s so fierce. She loves doing her stunts. She loves getting involved and she had a great time kicking ass and beating up Pablo, beating up all these goons, running around in a field.

It was a lot of fun for her and I think the fans are really going to take to seeing her take on it. Because you think in the books, she was a horrible person. And in … life, she’s not actually that great a person, but Shadow was so in love. She called him puppy because he followed her around like a little puppy, he was so infatuated that he didn’t see the real Laura. The audience sees the real Laura and eventually Shadow sees the real Laura.

She’s so unapologetic but yet you still love her because you kind of understand where she’s coming from. She’s almost on the spectrum, she’s completely kind of numb to how Shadow feels sometimes. And it’s funny to watch and it kind of adds that dark humor that Bryan Fuller is very much known for.

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With Shadow caught between Laura and Mr. Wednesday now, what do you want for your character in Season 2?

Completely blind, not knowing the book, as a viewer, you’d want happiness. Or you’d want something going right for him. He’s the universe’s punch bag at the moment and you just kind of long for him to find a smile. He’s literally just turned his whole life and belief over to [Mr. Wednesday] and then at the same time he’s realized his wife is alive.

But the audience has just realized that [Wednesday] was behind him losing the one thing that he loved in the world — the only thing he loved, the only thing he believed in, [Wednesday] took it away. The one person that he entrusted everything to.

So obviously you’d like to know the truth. You want to see how that pans out and does he go up against the gods? Does he go up against [Wednesday]? It’s also not in the book, the finale, so you also want to see what happens with that dynamic between [Wednesday], Laura, and Shadow. And of course Shadow’s got a thing with Mad Sweeney as well, you know, why is he hanging around his wife?

It just looks like Season 2 is ready to explode from the beginning which is great. I’m looking forward to it. I want to see that love story grow, see what’s going on there between Shadow and Laura. And then you just want to meet more gods. You want to know if this war is going to happen. How do gods fight?

These are extraordinary people living in ordinary circumstances and it’s not like they’re just picking up guns and shooting each other and it’s not like they’re picking up thunderbolts and crushing cities. These are all things I just want to know. How is this war going to come about?

It’s been brewing for a while and you kind of want to see that climax some time. And is Shadow going to be a part of that or is he going to be able to escape the clutches of these gods? Is he going to be a part of it because for some reason he seems special? Did he make snow or was that another illusion as well?