American Gods Removes Marilyn Manson From Upcoming Episode

Marilyn Manson will no longer be featured on American Gods. Manson was cast in the fantasy drama in a recurring role playing the immortal, blood-thirsty Johan Wengren, who is the lead singer of the Viking death metal band Blood Death. He is considered a Norse berserker and his band and music provide a source of power for Mr. Wednesday aka Odin in the war on the New Gods while also highlighting the connection between heavy metal and Norse mythology. Americans Gods is run by showrunner Charles Eglee and starring Ricky Whittle, Ian McShane, and Emily Browning. The show is currently airing its third season.

Manson faces multiple allegations of abuse made publicly by several women, including Evan Rachel Wood. Wood has testified for Congress and the California Senate for the passing of acts to support victims of sexual assault and within those testimonies, detailed her history of sexual abuse and manipulation. She recently named Manson as one of her abusers, stating on social media that he brainwashed and groomed her as a teenager. Wood was joined by four other women in the accusations against Manson, who have detailed their encounters with him. Manson has released a statement denying all allegations.

Per THR, Starz, which airs American Gods, has released a statement saying that Manson will be removed from an upcoming episode. Manson has already appeared in two episodes of the third season before the allegations: the season premiere “A Winter’s Tale” and the show’s most recent episode “The Unseen”. His run with the show was expected to conclude with one more episode, which is currently being edited to not feature Manson. A spokesperson from Starz released the following statement:

“Due to the allegations made against Marilyn Manson, we have decided to remove his performance from the remaining episode he is in, scheduled to air later this season. Starz stands unequivocally with all victims and survivors of abuse.”

Manson joins a list of American Gods actors who have departed the series, albeit under very different circumstances. In addition to being dropped by his publicist and his record label company, Manson will also not appear in an upcoming episode of the Shudder horror anthology series Creepshow, his segment being scrapped and replaced. One of the show’s stars Yetide Badaki, who portrays a goddess of love Bilquis, showed her support for Evan Rachel Wood by retweeting a news post about Wood’s statement.

Manson’s reputation of exploring the themes of violence, hate, and death in his music fits well with the show’s dark elements and certainly the music aspect is a intriguing additive to the story of the season. While viewers may have to wait and see if Johan Wengren’s story arc will be fully completed, American Gods continues to find creative ways of tying in various concepts and it’s certain that the Odin and Norse mythology have much left to be discovered.

Source: THR, Yetide Badaki

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Christopher Tsang
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Chris is a feature news writer for ScreenRant who joined the team in 2020. A graduate of NYU Tisch program, Chris has been passionate about films and television and enjoys a range of content, especially ones with great writing. Chris also likes to watch award shows and predict the winners with his recent success predicting Anthony Hopkins to win for The Father at the Oscars.

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