Good Omens is a spectacularly weird novel, a 1990 collaboration between famed writers Neil Gaiman (American Gods, Sandman, and much more) and Terry Pratchett (best known for the Discworld series) that combined Gaiman’s love of mythology and religion with Pratchett’s sense of humor and penchant for cultural references to produce the funniest book you’ll ever read about the Antichrist and the apocalypse.
Now, it’s coming to Amazon and the BBC as a series of six one-hour episodes, and with two very big names involved. Michael Sheen will play angel Aziraphale and David Tennant will play demon Crowley, two unlikely figures who have to team up to avert the end of the world. Sheen told Variety he’s thrilled to be involved in a project based on a book he loves:
“I first read ‘Good Omens’ as a teenager and it’s been one of my favourite stories ever since,” Sheen said in a statement to Variety. “To be part of the team entrusted with bringing it alive on screen is a bit of a dream come true to be honest. To work alongside Neil, who I think is one of the greatest storytellers of all time, is incredibly exciting. And, just like the rest of the world, I’m a huge fan of David’s so I relish trying to save it with him.”
There’s a lot to be excited about here. Sheen and Tennant are both capable actors, with Sheen particularly known for Frost/Nixon, The Damned United and Masters of Sex, and Tennant famed for Doctor Who, Broadchurch and more. And it’s good to hear that this project (first announced in January) is actually moving forward, as there have been a lot of false starts with Good Omens over the years.
Monty Python’s Flying Circus alum and famed director (Brazil, 12 Monkeys, Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas) Terry Gilliam wrote a script and planned to make a film as of 2002, but the funding didn’t quite come together, and fellow Python alum Terry Jones reportedly was writing a TV version in 2011, while Pratchett’s daughter Rhianna planned a TV movie in 2012.
None of that quite worked out, though, and after Pratchett’s death in March 2015, Gaiman wrote in April 2016 that he was working on writing the scripts himself for this six-part series. So this is straight from one of the authors.
Beyond that, the format sounds fantastic. Good Omens isn’t as long, sprawling or complicated as Gaiman’s American Gods, the TV adaptation of which has already had eight episodes on Starz and has been renewed for a second season. Good Omens needs to proceed at a solid pace to really display the apocalyptic stakes, so an ongoing TV series probably would have stretched it too thin. (Also, it would have been a complete disappointment if it was set up as a multi-season series but then cancelled partway through, as the later events in this one are so critical.)
However, this is a book that features (according to its own helpful Dramatis Personae) a “Full Chorus of Tibetans, Aliens, Americans, Atlanteans and other rare and strange Creatures of the Last Days,” to say nothing of the Bikers of the Apocalypse, the Them, the Witchfinder Army, Anathema Device and all the rest of the crowded cast. A movie would have had to cut a lot out to make this work. So a six-hour series sounds about right.
Why should you check out Good Omens if you don’t already know about it? Well, for one thing, it’s one of the funniest books out there. There are all sorts of jokes in this, from rains of fish to cassette tapes magically turning into “Best of Queen” to the satanic design of the M25 motorway to tons of references to The Omen, Them! and more.
But beyond that, the book is an amazing commentary on modern society, and on how agents of heaven and hell might have more in common than you’d expect. And its thoughts on the Hell’s Angels are particularly not to be missed. We’ll see how this series turns out, but it definitely has a promising pedigree, and the involvement of Sheen and Tennant only furthers that.
