FremantleMedia has acquired the rights to author Neil Gaiman's critically-acclaimed 2001 novel American Gods for a new TV adaptation.

The book was previously set up at Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman's Playtone Productions and HBO back in 2011, although the adaptation never moved forward. Neil Gaiman will executive produce the small screen adaptation, although it isn't known if a writer has been hired to work on the script yet.

American Gods is set in a world where a war is brewing between traditional and mythological gods and a new group of deities who reflect modern society's love of money, celebrities, technology, media and drugs. The plot centers on an ex-con named Shadow Moon who takes a job as a bodyguard for Mr. Wednesday, a con man disguised as one of the older gods, who is on a cross-country mission preparing his forces for battle.

The project is just the latest in Fremantle's efforts to develop more scripted programming. They are developing an adaptation of the hit French series The Returned with A&E and Basket Case, based on the Carl Hiaasen novel, in the works at Spike TV. They also produce The CW's The Tomorrow People.