Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys adapted for new Amazon Prime Video series

Neil Gaiman’s bestselling fantasy novel Anansi Boys is being adapted for a new series on Amazon Prime Video.

The six-episode limited series, developed by Gaiman and his friend Sir Lenny Henry, will begin shooting in Scotland later this year.

Based on Gaiman’s novel of the same name, Anansi Boys 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 an incarnation of a West African trickster god – and that he has a brother, Spider. Life for Charlie is about to become more interesting, but also a lot more dangerous. 

Anansi Boys is a stand-alone story, not a sequel or spin-off of Gaiman’s novel American Gods. The book’s story was originally developed in conversation between Gaiman and Henry. 

Gaiman says: “Anansi Boys began around 1996, from a conversation I had with Lenny Henry about writing a story that was diverse and part of the culture that we both loved.

“I wrote a novel, a joyous and funny book about a dead god and his two sons, about birds and ghosts and beasts and cops, based in Caribbean and African tales. 

“I am thrilled that Sir Lenny Henry is one of our executive producers. He was there when it was conceived, he narrated the audiobook and he has kept the heart of the production true.” 

The news comes following an announcement last month that Gaiman’s hit Amazon show, Good Omens, starring Michael Sheen and David Tennant and based on his 1990 novel with Sir Terry Pratchett, had been renewed for a second series.