New Gods

***New Gods*** is an American television series that ran for six seasons from 2024 to 2029. It is based on the DC Comics series and characters of the same name as well as Forever People and Mister Miracle*.* It is the ninth television series of the DCEU and the fifth and final television series of Phase 3. It premiered on September 10, 2024.

## Plot Summary

Based on Jack Kirby's Fourth World (New Gods, Forever People, and Mister Miracle), it follows Darkseid's ongoing quest to finding the Anti-Life Equation, as well as rebellious group of heroes to Darkseid's reign of Apokolips and Highfather's son, Scott Free, who was raised on Apokolips instead of New Genesis.

## Cast (By Plotline)

### New Gods

* Jonathan Pryce as Highfather
* Daniel Sharman as Orion
* Josh Keaton as Lightray
* Paul Bettany as Metron
* Michael Ironside as Darkseid
* Annabelle Wallis as Claudia Shane
* Rupert Graves as Dave Lincoln
* Charlie Tahan as Harvey Lockman
* Mark Hamill as Victor Lanza
* Robert Maillet as Kalibak/Titan
* Matt Willig as Brola
* Doug Jones as DeSaad
* Brian Tee as Mantis
* Unknown as Deep Six [Gole, Jaffar, Pyron, Shaligo, Slig, and Trok]
* Omar Sy as Black Racer
* Dee Bradley Baker as Esak
* Holland Tyler as Avia
* Alexandra Breckinridge as Tigra
* Margo Martindale as Granny Goodness
* Kathy Bates as Heggra
* Ciaran Hinds as Steppenwolf
* Michael Chiklis as Dan Turpin
* Gael Garcia Bernal as Forager
* Lea Thompson as Eve Donner
* Amy Adams as All-Widow
* Matthew McConaughey as Prime-One
* Milla Jovovich as Jezebelle
* Channing Tatum as Lonar
* Carel Struycken as Gargon
* Christopher Heyrdahl as Doctor Bedlam
* Javier Bardem as Bane of Apokolips
* Conan Stevens as The Antagonist

### Forever People

* Gina Rodriguez as Beautiful Dreamer
* Manu Bennett s Big Bear
* Steven Strait as Mark Moonrider
* Chris Zylka as Serifan
* Dennis Haysbert as Vykin the Black
* Patrick Schwarzeneggar as Infinity Man
* David Hyde Pierce as Glorious Godfrey
* Kim Woo Bin as Sonny Sumo

### Mister Miracle

* Colin Hanks as Mister Miracle/Scott Free
* Peter Dinklage as Oberon
* Clancy Brown as Thaddeus Brown
* Gwendoline Christie as Big Barda
* Jurgen Prochnow as Virman Vundabar
* Michelle Gomez as Bernadeth
* Phoebe Tonkin as Lashina
* Fairuza Balk as Mad Harriet
* Melissa McCarthy as Stompa
* Elizabeth Debicki as Gilotina
* Diego Luna as Kanto
* Russell Crowe as Himon
* Daniel Radcliffe as Ted Brown
* Unknown as King Komodo
* Unknown as Madame Evil Eyes
* Miles Brown as Shilo Norman
* Gemma Arterton as Alianna Hubbard

## Reception

When it premiered, *New Gods* received universal acclaim from critics and audiences. "Guzikowski absolutely made a perfect adaptation of Jack Kirby's Fourth World saga. He would most definitely be proud of this achievement and what his legacy has become."

When season 2 premiered, it received very positive reception. "Season 2 of *New Gods* continues Kirby's legacy in the best possible ways." Once again, people praised performances, writing, dialogue, pacing, effects, and overall tone.

When season 3 premiered, it received mixed to positive reception. "While still good, *New Gods* is starting to show fractures in its story and might not be able to continue on further." While some people still praised quite a few aspects of the show, the story started to go downhill, and felt like they were stretching a plot too thing.

For the rest of the show (season 4 to 6), it received mixed reception. After Kirby's main story was done, many felt like it didn't have a point to exist anymore and wasn't as interesting. As well as constantly bringing in characters that didn't serve a major point to the show, and previous qualms that it was stretching a plot too thin. However, it still received quite a few positive reviews as well stating that it felt like it was more in tune wit the DCEU and went more into that comic book exaggeration.

## Trivia

* When *New Gods* was still in development as a film, Ava DuVernay pitched a film focusing on the early comics from the original New Gods run. It was even suggested to be a two part film. However, the film was cancelled in favor of more Justice League spin-off films. When it was re-pitched as a television series by *Raised by Wolves* showrunner Aaron Guzikowski, it was then subsequently greenlit. When DuVernay heard of this, she accused DC of being racist as they went with a white man instead of a black woman. When Guzikowski heard of this, he stated it was far from this, and that DC execs thought New Gods would be better suited as a television series. He soon offered her to direct several episodes as a sign of good faith, as well as admiring her talents, and she eventually agreed. She ended up directing 12 episodes of the series.
* Guzikowski only envisioned it going on for 3 seasons. However, due to the very high ratings and universal acclaim, execs pushed for more seasons, and renewed it until season 6. At that point, Guzikowski was exhausted and promptly left the series because he "hated what had become of it" despite still getting a majority of positive reviews. It was because of this, that it was subsequently cancelled. Ironically, the same thing happened to Jack Kirby when initially writing the New Gods comic series back in the 1970s, and only intended it to be a one-off mini-series.