Gaiman's next novel, Anansi Boys (2005), was conceived before American Gods and shares a character, Mr. Nancy (Anansi, the spider god of African legend).
In an interview with MTV News published on 22 June 2011, Gaiman said that he had plans for a direct sequel to American Gods. Gaiman had plans for a sequel even while writing the first book and has said that he is likely to focus on the New Gods in the sequel.[29]
In addition to the planned sequel, Gaiman has written two short story sequels featuring Shadow Moon. "The Monarch of the Glen", a novella first published in the 2003 anthology Legends II, takes place in Scotland two years after American Gods. The second short story, "Black Dog", was collected in Gaiman's 2015 Trigger Warning. It takes place a year later in Derbyshire's Peak District.[30] In the introduction for Trigger Warnings Gaiman said that he had one final standalone story that would take Shadow to London before he returns to the US and the start of American Gods 2.
