Good Omens Season 2 Goes Beyond The Source Material: "We Knew There Was More Story"
The ineffable husbands are more ineffable than ever.
When Good Omens wrapped its first season, the story was over. That was it, the Amazon Prime TV series created by Neil Gaiman had finished adapting Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s 1990 apocalyptic comedy novel. But Gaiman wasn’t quite finished with the tale of the angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and the demon Crowley (David Tennant).
“We always knew from the beginning that there was more story because Neil and Terry, when Terry was alive, had talked about ideas beyond the first book,” Sheen tells Inverse.
In fact, some of those ideas made it into the first season of Good Omens, which aired on Amazon Prime in 2020 to widespread acclaim. With new characters like the archangel Gabriel (Jon Hamm), and scenes showing further insight into the millennia-long relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley, Gaiman was planting the seeds for the second season of Good Omens. That was a gamble, considering Season 2 didn’t get greenlit until 2023. Even then, Sheen and Tennant weren’t even sure if Good Omens Season 2 was happening until they showed up to set the first day.
“Until you’re on set on day one, you don’t really believe it’ll happen,” Sheen says.
“When the first series came out, I’d never experienced anything like it before.”
Nearly five years after they filmed Season 1, Sheen and Tennant settled back into their characters as if they’d been doing this for, well, millennia. With the apocalypse out of the way, Good Omens Season 2 is very much the Aziraphale and Crowley show, dedicating lengthy flashbacks to their friendship (or maybe more) through the ages. The chemistry between the two can be credited to Sheen and Tennant’s close real-life friendship, with the pair even poking fun at their relationship in a comedy series called Staged that aired during COVID. But the Aziraphale and Crowley relationship took off in a way they couldn’t anticipate after the first season, and which Sheen and Tennant felt some pressure to live up to.
“Gradually, I’d start meeting people dressed up as Aziraphale and Crowley,” Tennant tells Inverse. “And then that would happen more and more and more, and you realize, oh, this has got legs.”
Inverse spoke to Sheen and Tennant about Good Omens Season 2, how they dealt with the show’s passionate following, and what Easter eggs fans can expect to see.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. It was conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Knowing the first season of Good Omens finished adapting the book, what was your reaction when you were asked to be in the second season?
Michael Sheen: Well, there was no real clear point where it was put to us. We always knew from the beginning that there was more story because Neil and Terry, when Terry was alive, had talked about ideas beyond the book. And in fact, some of those ideas are in the first series. The angels and Gabriel are not in the book. So we knew there was more story. And then as the series came out and it got the reception it got and the audience seemed to enjoy it so much, it was clear that there was possibly an appetite for more. And I think because Neil had talked it through with Terry in the past, about where the story could go, that gave him the confidence to feel like maybe we could explore this. And then it just developed.
David Tennant: Yes. But it crept up on us, didn’t it? It evolved as an idea, and it went from being something that, oh, wouldn’t it be nice if, to a genuine exploration of a possibility of Series 2, to when can we do it?
Sheen: Until you’re on set on day one, you don’t really believe it’ll happen. And then when I did turn up on day one—
Tennant: I wasn’t there.
Sheen: Because he was ill.
Tennant: I got COVID for the first couple of days of the shoot. Remember that was a thing? Everyone stayed off work and everything.
Sheen: Well, you did. Some of us battled on.
“For film and TV buffs, there are so many little Easter eggs.”
Obviously, both of you were in Doctor Who. I saw the handful of Doctor Who references in this season, with Aziraphale haggling over a lost episode of Doctor Who, Peter Davison playing Job, and David, your reference to Alpha Centauri. Whose idea was it to sprinkle in those Doctor Who nods? And were more that didn’t make it in?
Tennant: That’s Neil [Gaiman], isn’t it? Neil’s a fan, and Douglas [Mackinnon], our director as well, who’s worked on Doctor Who, so there are a few overlaps. But there are lots of, not just Doctor Who, there are lots of references to all sorts of things that are sprinkled in there.
Sheen: For film and TV buffs, there are so many little Easter eggs. There’s not a scene that there isn’t something going on in there.
Tennant: Yes. Some of them are very explicit, others you have to really search for, and lots I still don’t understand. But there’s a lot going on in there and there’s a lot of hidden content.
Sheen: Yeah. Because the episode of Doctor Who that I did was written by Neil. That was the connection.
A fantastic episode.
Sheen: Some say the best episode.
Tennant: Eh, there were better ones. I don’t know.
“There’s a lot of incredibly creative and talented people out there watching this show.”
Michael Sheen and David Tennant on the set of Good Omens Season 2.
The relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley was a major part of what made Season 1 work so well, and I was overjoyed to see Season 2 doubled down on that. They’re obviously close in the book, but it was your chemistry in the show that made fans really embrace them as ineffable husbands. Did the glowing reception for the Aziraphale-Crowley ship influence Season 2’s direction? And how aware were you of the immediate fan reception to your characters together?
Sheen: Well it was quite overwhelming, really. When the first series came out, I’d never experienced anything like it before. I suppose David, having gone through the whole Doctor Who experience, had experienced some kind of passionate fan base now.
Tennant: Yes, yes. Particular shows like this that have that kind of enthusiastic following, it is quite overwhelming. But it’s lovely. It’s very humbling to be in the midst of that. And Good Omens, I don’t know that I was immediately aware of it, but then gradually I’d start meeting people dressed up as Aziraphale and Crowley. And then that would happen more and more and more, and you realize, oh, this has got legs. This has grabbed a level of adoration and love that is really lovely. It’s a real privilege to be connected to because it goes well beyond anything that we do. It becomes its own thing, and that’s lovely.
Sheen: There’s a lot of incredibly creative and talented people out there watching this show. And then putting that creativity and talent into writing fanfiction or doing fanart or making things, I’ve seen the most extraordinary things that people have made based on this show. And it’s amazing to have that and to know that people care about the story and these characters so much. And we carry that responsibility into the show, and take it very seriously, the way people have responded to this, just seeing how people have created their own communities based on it and formed incredible friendships and meaningful relationships as a result of it. It really is a privilege. It’s very humbling to witness that.
