Meet the Actress Playing an Indigenous, Bi Badass on 'American Gods'

"If this were back in the day, I would've been god-like," Sam Black Crow tells hitchhiker Shadow Moon. 

"Why?" 

"Two spirits in one body, both masculine and feminine. It's considered a gift from the creator."

Thus begins the STARZ saga of Neil Gaiman's iconic American Gods character, Sam Black Crow. Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs plays Black Crow, the newest bisexual badass to debut on the supernatural drama. The character's appearance is a turning point in Gaiman's story—but is also a groundbreaking moment in Indigenous, queer representation on television.

Jacobs, who is from Kanien’kehá:ka of Canada's Mohawk nation, explains how monumental the role is for her as a queer, Indigenous woman who gets to play a queer, Indigenous character.

"I had been a huge fan of the novel for years and of Neil Gaiman's work," Jacobs said in an exclusive interview with PRIDE. "Reading the book, she is a half Cherokee, queer, college student and I was like, 'Hello! It's me!'"

The long-time fan hounded her agent for the part, and when an open call for Indigenous actors for the role came along, she went in, nailed the audition, and was cast as Sam Black Crow. But as soon as she got the role, the part almost fell through her fingertips. 

"I was their first choice, but I was working on another production and it conflicted. It came down to one day and they couldn't make it work. They were like 'We're sorry, we have to move on to our second choice,'" said Jacobs. "I was gutted."

She continued: "There's so rarely Indigenous, especially female queer Indigenous characters represented ever. I had landed it, it was mine and just like that, it wasn't anymore."

Luckily, Jacobs had the support of her partner, EDM musician hey! dw. "I was actually encouraged by my partner. She was like, 'You can't just roll over, you have to do something.'"

"I wrote a letter to American Gods. It was kinda like my swan song since there was nothing left we could do. I explained to them how much I identified with Sam, how thankful I was to be cast in the project and that I don't take this character lightly and I was heartbroken that I wouldn't be able to play her but I'll still be a fan of the show and of Neil Gaiman and of Sam Black Crow."

"They sent that across the entire production office and even Neil Gaiman read it himself. They all said, 'You are our Sam Black Crow.' Neil Gaiman tweeted about it and everything, I geeked out." 

When production began last year, Jacobs participated in bringing Black Crow to life on screen.

"In the book, Sam is described to be bisexual. In the adaptation of it, I was fortunate enough to be able to have a hand in the creation of Sam onscreen. Because Sam is from the Cherokee nation, I'd done some digging and there was a term called Two-Spirited which is within the Indigenous community."

"I myself do not identify as Two-Spirit, just because it doesn't fall within Kanien’kehá:ka, my specific community. But in the Cherokee nation, it does. I thought that it would be really important to explore Sam's queerness through being Two-Spirited and that's something we touch on in the show. I'm really excited and honored to be able to represent that."

American Gods creators and actors have often said the series is a story about immigrants, so for Jacobs, getting to include America's first people in that story is near and dear to her heart.  

"American Gods, ultimately is about immigrants and their different cultures and beliefs coming to America. All of the gods are the reflections of these beliefs. I also don't think we can leave out discussions of America—we have to talk about Native people, we have to talk about the first people of this land. That's a character I feel really honored to represent."

Jacobs made it a point to specify that, "No one is illegal on stolen land. This whole issue of immigration is really beyond me, that's a whole other conversation."

Following Sunday's episode, what's to come for Sam Black Crow? Will she have love interests? 

"I hope so," smiled Jacobs. "I can't expose too much. I can't say too much about this season, you guys are just going to have to tune in and hope for three."

Catch more of Jacobs on Netflix's The Order, where she plays a vengeful werewolf. New episodes of American Gods drop every Sunday on STARZ.