User:Nk3play2/Shadow Moon

Shadow Moon is a fictional character in the fantasy novel American Gods by author Neil Gaiman and the point-of view character in the television adaptation.

Shadow is portrayed by Ricky Whittle on the Starz adaptation. His storyline follows the character's plot arc from the novel. In addition to fans' delight that Whittle fit the description given in the novel for Shadow, the actor received nearly universal praise for his portrayal of the very stoic introverted protagonist. Mic's Zak Cheney Rice declared that "'American Gods' reinvents itself through its black protagonist." Meghan O'Keefe from Decider hailed Whittle as "TV's Best New Leading Man."

Character overview
During the developmental stages of the series, Neil Gaiman told the story of how Shadow came to be. On a camping trip, the author met a "big, dumb guy, who when everyone was asked to pick up some firewood, he came back with basically a huge log – like a tree – and just dumped it down." Gaiman immediately thought to himself, "this guy's absolutely brainless." But after a conversation with the man, Gaiman was quite surprised to learn that this man was "super intelligent, very intellectual" and "cultured." The character's name also comes from Gaiman's travels. He once met a security guard called "Shadow." A few weeks later, Gaiman encountered another man with the same name. It was the only time Gaiman had ever heard the name in his life.

In the book, Shadow is "very stoic and silent" and "blasé" about life.

Shadow's ethnicity has been a topic of great debate since the novel's 2001 release. Neil Gaiman often described Shadow as being of "mixed race" which he felt was "appropriate in a book about America." However, Gaiman had always been very vague on the subject and the text itself is rather ambiguous in its sparse descriptions of Shadow's ethnicity. In the book, Shadow is described as having skin the color of "coffee and cream" and it is assumed that his mother is either Native American or African American while his father is white. Though it is clear that his mother is not white, her race is never explicitly stated. The novel hints at Shadow being connected to the land in some way which lends credence to the idea that his mother is Native American. However, the book also describes Shadow's mother as having a "dark" complexion and suffering from Sickle-cell anemia -- a genetic disorder that is prevalent in people of African descent and many take this as confirmation that Shadow is half-black. The 10th anniversary edition of the novel released in 2011 which includes 12,000 additional words actually reveals Shadow's mother to be a black woman.

In addition to being newly released from prison, the character of Shadow is said to be a former bouncer and personal trainer turned bodyguard. Shadow is also described as being "hulking" and "muscular." The novel describes Shadow as "big enough and don't-f-with-him enough to survive prison without worrying about anything but time."

Storylines
Shadow Moon is released early from prison to attend his wife's funeral. On his journey home, he encounters Mr. Wednesday who offers him a job. Shadow eventually agrees to be Mr. Wednesday's bodyguard after a night of drinking with him and Mad Sweeney. Shadow attends Laura's funeral and encounters Technical Boy before returning to his motel room and discovering Laura has returned from the grave. Mr. Wednesday takes Shadow to Chicago where they meet Czernobog and the Zorya sisters. It is Shadow who entices Czernobog to join Mr. Wednesday's cause by betting on a game of checkers. He loses the first game, allowing Czernobog to smash Shadow's head in with a hammer but wins the second game, meaning Czernobog will have to wait until the war is over. Shadow and Wednesday rob a bank before leaving Chicago and heading to the House on the Rock in Wisconsin where they meet up with Czernobog and Mr. Nancy. They meet Backstage with several other Old Gods, including the forgotten god, Alviss, and Mama-ji. Afterward, Shadow is captured and interrogated by the Spooks and Laura returns to rescue him. Shadow travels from Wisconsin to Cairo, IL, where he is to find Mr. Jacquel. He buys a cheap car and spends several days driving, meeting hitchhiker Sam along the way. Shadow spends time with Mr. Ibis and Mr. Jacquel and their cat at Ibis and Jacquel Funeral Parlor. Mad Sweeney returns and reveals the importance of the coin Shadow gave to Laura.

Shadow and Mr. Wednesday leave Illinois and travel to Wisconsin. Wednesday sends Shadow to the town of Lakeside under the guise of Mike Ainsel where Shadow meets Hinzelmann. Shadow gets to know more about the residents and the town of Lakeside, including the Chief of Police, Chad Mulligan, and his next door neighbor, Marguerite Olsen. When a girl goes missing, Shadow aids in the search party for her. Mr. Wednesday frequently visits and takes Shadow on trips around the US to recruit more Old Gods for the coming war, including Easter, Whiskey Jack, and John Chapman. Laura, Samantha Black Crow, and Audrey Burton arrive in Lakeside. Audrey sees Shadow and it leads to his arrest for the murders of the two Spooks that Laura killed. While he is in the Lakeside jail, Media displays footage for Shadow of Mr. Wednesday being executed by Mr. World. Shadow is transported from jail by two deputies who turn out to be Czernobog and Mr. Nancy in disguise.

Shadow travels with Mr. Nancy and Czernobog to the Center of America to retrieve Mr. Wednesday's body from the New Gods. They take Wednesday's body to the World Tree in Virgina and Shadow climbs onto the tree to hold the nine-day vigil for Wednesday. Horus and Laura come to visit before Shadow eventually dies and goes to the Underworld. Zorya Polunochnaya, Bast, and Mr. Ibis acts as his guides as Mr. Jacquel weighs his heart against a feather and allows him to choose his fate. Shadow asks for nothing. Whiskey Jack retrieves Shadow from the afterlife so Easter and Horus can bring his body back from the dead. Shadow discovers that he was in fact not a bodyguard, but a distraction so Wednesday and Low Key could pull off their two-man con: the war. This war would arrange for Odin and Loki to gain power and strength. Shadow arrives in Rock City to stop the war. He reveals to the gods it was all a con between Mr. Wednesday and Mr. World before freeing Laura from the gold coin's entrapment.

Shadow travels with Mr. Nancy to his home in Florida where they spend a night out singing karaoke. Shadow soon leaves Mr. Nancy because "the ice is melting." Shadow returns to Lakeside to uncover Hinzelmann's centuries old secret, leading to Chad Mulligan shooting and killing Hinzelmann. Shadow checks up on Sam and leaves her flowers before proceeding to Chicago where he visits the Zoryas and Czernobog to fulfill his end of the checkers game and allow Czernobog to hit him over the head with his hammer. Shadow takes off to Europe and travels around for a while, stopping of in Iceland where he encounters the Old World version of Mr. Wednesday and returns his glass eye to him.

Casting


In June 2015, Starz announced that casting was underway for Shadow. The network polled fans on Twitter using the hashtag "#CastingShadow" to assist in their search. Neil Gaiman revealed that he initially envisioned actors Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel because of their racial ambiguity. The original casting call described Shadow as a man in his "early to mid 30s," "American, black/mixed race/North African in appearance." Shadow is an "ex-con with a quiet intellect and a lithe, powerful frame." Producers Bryan Fuller and Michael Green received approximately 2,000 audition tapes and they narrowed it down to about 1,200. Only about 600 of those actors were able to meet with Fuller and Green. Fuller likened the audition process to The Hunger Games novel series.

On January 28, 2016, it was announced that English actor Ricky Whittle known for his portrayal of Calvin Valentine on the U.K. soap opera Hollyoaks and his recent stint as Lincoln on The CW's sci-fi drama The 100 had been cast in the lead role of Shadow Moon. Whittle had no knowledge of the novel until fans on social media suggested him for the role. He first auditioned in September 2015 and the network kept in contact with Whittle while they explored other options. During San Diego Comic-Con in July 2016, Gaiman revealed the extensive casting process for Shadow lasted several months "and we put poor Ricky through the ringer. I hate to think of how many audition tapes he did for us." Whittle later said that he submitted 16 tapes during the audition process over five months. Whittle immediately began doing his research in preparation for the role. However, Whittle was forced to abandon the novel when Fuller and Green informed him that the book version of Shadow would not work for the adaption. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter Whittle said "They needed an actor and a vessel who could go on this emotional roller coaster, someone who could portray this beautiful writing from Neil Gaiman, all of this inner monologue, that we're not going to vocalize. I had to do that." Whittle credited his role on The 100 with preparing him for Shadow.

At the time of the announcement, it was unknown if or how Whittle's casting would impact his gig on The 100. However, Deadline Hollywood reported on rumors that Whittle was to be written out of The 100 leaving him free to sign on as Shadow. Ricky Whittle announced his decision to leave The 100 in April 2016 in an interview with AfterBuzz TV. He stirred up controversy when he accused The 100's creator Jason Rothenberg of bullying him into leaving the series by marginalizing his character. Whittle also revealed that once they were made aware of the situation, Warner Bros. Television President Peter Roth and The CW President Mark Pedowitz allowed Whittle to audition for American Gods.

Characterization
In contrast to the book, the television version of Shadow has "a bit more colour." According to Whittle, the personality change makes Shadow more adaptable for television. He is "much more pro-active" the actor said. He has "layers" which makes Shadow "more real." Though the writing for the series can be very comedic, in season 1, Shadow is "not there yet. I have to earn that personality" Whittle insisted. As a recently widowed ex-con, Shadow doesn't find humor in anything. Whittle described Shadow as "this incredible strong man who just stands up and keeps moving forward" even when life keeps knocking him down. According to Whittle, Shadow's "inner strength" to just keep going is the most surprising thing about the character. When viewers meet Shadow, "he's broken. He's empty." The actor further described Shadow as an "emotionless and unbelieving cynic." Thought it was difficult for him, Whittle knew he had to play the "straight guy." Though he tends go with the flow, Shadow has a lot of "anxiety and fear" about the recent events in his life.

Just as several characters question Shadow's ethnicity in the novel, the producers also questioned Shadow's ethnic identity: "is he a gypsy? Is he Hispanic? Is he black? Or is he all of those things in one?" According to Bryan Fuller, the one thing everyone agreed on is that Shadow is not white. He continued, "I think if we cast a white man to play Shadow we would be the biggest assholes on television." During the casting process, Gaiman was very adamant about maintaining the racial identities of the characters. "You can absolutely do the novel, but the racial breakdown in the novel stays" he insisted. "Shadow, our hero is mixed race, I want you to find a mixed race actor." Fortunately, the network and the production companies were in complete agreement. Kayti Burt of Den of Geek felt it appropriate that Shadow is portrayed more explicitly as black in the adaptation considering he is an ex-con and "the prison industrial complex is a major part of contemporary America identity — especially if you are a black man." In the pilot, "The Bone Orchard," Shadow dreams about a buffalo with flaming eyes. Joanna Robinson saw it as a hint at Shadow's Native American heritage. But in the same episode, it is revealed that Shadow's mom has a "big Afro" which Zak Rice viewed as a "subtle nod" to the "Black Power era."

Once he officially booked the role, Whittle set out to a journey to make a physical transformation to take on the role of Shadow. "That was tough" he stated. This was a very new experience for Whittle. Whittle said of his transformation: "I felt a responsibility to give that to the fans. And I think I did. I look at him on the screen, and he's a big guy. He's 15 pounds heavier than I am now. He's a beast." Whittle changed his diet -- eating five meals and five shakes per day and training between 2 to 4 hours per day. To recover from his daily work outs, Whittle utilized a cryo chamber. Whittle had a lot of fun in the first week. "You’re eating pizzas and burgers and you’re loving life." However, the fun did not last long. "But then you need to start eating the right calories. So you get rid of the carbs and get rid of the sugar. Your chicken doesn’t come with a sauce anymore. It’s dry. The brown rice is tasteless. The broccoli is dry. And you’re eating every two hours, when you’re still full from the previous meal. You’re not eating because you’re hungry. You’re eating because it’s time." The actor took in over 4000 calories per day and put on 35 pounds. For the role Lincoln, Whittle was 135 pounds while Shadow weighs in at 210 pounds. This was Whittle's daily routine for seven months as he filmed the first season. The producers sent Whittle to the legendary Unbreakable Performance Center in Los Angeles where he trained opposite UFC fighters. Whittle explained the reason for his transformation: "You can always act big and you use your acting ability to provide that intensity and stoic-ness, but the size helps." Though he knew there were ways around it, Whittle insisted that "It's better to just be big than act big." However, Whittle later complained that he experienced a great deal of pain due to the physically stress of the training and such rapid weight gain. To cut his work load in half in between shooting, once he finished filming, Whittle maintained a weight of 195 pounds. "I'm happy here" he stated. "I only have 15 pounds to put back on. I solved that problem!" Whittle also found a workout partner in his co-star Pablo Schreiber who portrays Mad Sweeney. During production where they filmed on location in Toronto, Whittle and Schreiber built a "bare bones gym" where they could go to maintain the muscle gains they had achieved prior to production.

Reception
There was great concern among fans of the novel that the characters would end up being "whitewashed" as Hollywood so often does with adaptations. The top fan suggestions for the character of Shadow included Jason Momoa, Joe Manganiello and Whittle himself. Whittle's casting was well received by fans and critics alike. Scott Meslow of GQ said if Shadow is a "singular, imaginative creation, Ricky Whittle… is likely as close as the real world is ever going to get." Joanna Robinson of Vanity Fair said "In the midst of a larger Hollywood conversation about whitewashing, American Gods nails it." Robinson continued, "Beyond his looks, the British-born Whittle is a great fit for Shadow. He proved that he can pull of a brooding, laconic, surprisingly sensitive hero for three seasons of The 100." Collider's Nick Romano said Whittle's casting "further changes the conversation" and also "adds a new shade to the finale revelations." Zak Cheney Rice said the casting of the visibly Black Whittle makes the show "richer." The casting was bittersweet for Jen Stayrook who was worried Whittle would be killed off of The 100 but was "ecstatic" and said "he's a perfect addition" to American Gods. Amanda Ferris of Fashion & Style praised Whittle's casting for several reasons, including the producers' commitment to diversity. Ferris also said that Whittle fit the description of Shadow "perfectly" and said the casting could encourage other networks make more diverse casting choices.

Shawn Speakman expressed his excitement about Whittle's casting and said "He brings a dark but eloquent and thoughtful presence to the role." Casey Cipriani of Slate magazine said "It's a good day when news of a truly diverse casting choice comes along." Jane Mulkerrins of The Daily Telegraph said Whittle was "well cast" in the role of Shadow. She continued that "Whittle's own relocation the US, and subsequent reinvention into a serious performer, perfectly encapsulates the immigrant's American Dream." Geek.com said "Ricky Whittle settles comfortably into the character of Shadow" and his "portrayal makes him easy to root for." Jacob Hall of /Film said Whittle is the "kind of soft-spoken, no-nonsense hero you want to see." Hall continued, "Whittle's surprisingly gentle demeanor and his willingness to wear his emotions and intelligence on his sleeve transform Shadow into a unique hero." Hall also praised Whittle's chemistry with Ian McShane as Mr. Wednesday. The Mary Sue's Kaila Hale-Stern said Whittle has the "hardest job" and praised the actor for doing an "excellent job of playing a much-suffering, much-tortured protagonist with a backbone of steel." ComicBook.com praised Whittle's "perfect performance" and said the actor "brings a complicated undertone to his subtle moments." Ron Hogan said Whittle is "spot on as Shadow" and described him as a "great lead, imposing physically but with an expensive face." Hogan further stated, that Whittle finds a "balance between the impressive nature of Shadow as a character in the book and the necessity for a television actor to not be a complete blank slate with things bouncing off him. He emotes well, but he's stony enough to communicate that Shadow is a man used to being guarded." Jeremy Thomas said "Whittle is able to portray the emotional turmoil in an understated way that clearly conveys the pain that Shadow is going through, but doesn't push past the line of acceptable mopeyness." Carissa Pavlica said Whittle was "destined" to play Shadow and praised his portrayal of Shadow at Laura's grave. Sam Machkovech said "Whittle firlmy sticks the landing between hulking badass and likable, 'what, I'm the hero?' Everyman."

Meghan O'Keefe raved about Whittle's portrayal of the heroic Shadow. Despite American Gods being Whittle's first major leading role, "He's doing a really freaking good job" O'Keefe declared. "Whittle manages to be both a grounding force and an electric shock of charm." She continued that Whittle manages to juggle all the qualities of "good old fashioned heroism." While Whittle is very close to the novel's description as far as looks, "The key is that he’s managed to carry over the character’s intrinsic spirit to the show — it’s a spirit of heroism."