Whoopi Goldberg s Neil Gaiman's Delroy Lindo as the principal figure, Mr. Nancy. In reality, the character is the incarnation of an old trickster god, Anansi, who rules over spiders, and his death leads to a whirlwind of trouble for his two sons, Fat Charlie and Spider. To quell his problems with his newly-discovered brother, Charlie discovers the ancient animal gods and tries to strike a deal with one of them.
To date, Gaiman and Amazon Studios have cast much of the lineup of Anansi Boys, including Lindo and Malachi Kirby (Roots) as Mr. Nancy and Charlie/Spider, respectively, except for the rest of the animal gods. Variety reports that Whoopi Goldberg will play the cunning Bird Woman that makes a life-altering agreement with Kirby's protagonist. The Academy Award-winner is undoubtedly hoping to rebound from a dubious performance as Mother Abigail in The Stand but carries over that experience portraying an older woman with incredible abilities. In response to the casting, Goldberg said the following:
"I have been a fan of this book for a very long time and when Neil Gaiman told me it was being brought to the screen, I did everything I could to be part of it to help make people aware of Anansi and all his magic."
Gaiman reveals that he imagined Goldberg playing Bird Woman when he first conceived his novel. But although fate supposedly brought the author and the Sister Act star together, she is not the only ancient animal god ing Anansi Boys. Emmanuel Ighodaro signs on as Lion, Cecilia Noble as Elephant, Ayanna Witter-Johnson as Snake, Don Gilet as Monkey, and Hakeem Kae-Kazim as Tiger, one of the story's other central antagonists. This dream casting could prove ideal for Anansi Boys, but only time will tell if the series performs well in its slated 6-episode season or if it suffers cancellation like Gaiman's American Gods.
Source: Variety