Good Omensis back , give thanks heaven and hell , and with itMichael Sheen and David Tennantas the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley . Ahead ofPrime Video ’s second seasonfollowing the cosmic character created byNeil Gaimanand the lateTerry Pratchett , io9 caught up withthe fan - favorite stars .
( These interview were conducted prior to the start ofthe SAG - AFTRA strike . )
Season one of Good Omens render us Aziraphale and Crowley fall out in the Garden of Eden . But as time of year two ’s gap express us , that was n’t actually the first time they fulfill . rick out they had an encounter at the birth of the entire cosmos — and that ’s where their first picture of each other were form .
Photo: Mark Mainz/Prime Video
“ I think Aziraphale is very strike by Crowley , ” Sheen said . “ It ’s hard to put a finger on what it is , but something about him makes Aziraphale ’s auricle bite up . And then almost immediately , as is always the way with Crowley , he gets irritate by him . He gets infuriate by him , he gets intimidate by him . And very upset by him — Aziraphale always finds Crowley a worrying comportment . He ’s always rocking the boat . We see all those things at play in that first get together in the 2nd series — where he ’s sort of drawn to him and kind of impressed by him , but very worried by him as well . And nothing interchange really , as it prompt on . ”
Tennant reflects that Crowley did n’t quite have the same experience . “ There ’s certainly no sense to Crowley that this is someone who is go to become terribly important to him , so fundamental to his very existence , but then Crowley ’s still an angel at that point . He ’s got a long journeying to go on before he becomes the character that we get to experience , ” he said . “ [ In this shot ] we get to see how fundamental they were to the initiation of it all — and how misjudged Crowley was in the way that he conceive of the hierarchy of heaven to work . So it ’s a rather delicious short snapshot that I think also help to inform their relationship perpetually , really . And of course , when we then cut to present day , they ’re still the same two that met all those millennia before . So it ’s a very pleasing slight way to launch the series . It was the first thing that Neil apportion with us of season two , and it just felt immediately idealistic , I thought , that was how we should reconnect with these characters . ”
Aziraphale and Crowley have been through a lot together ; time of year one ’s successful derailing of the Book of Revelation come after we witnessed their relationship being take form , cemented , and challenged — always challenge — over the century . time of year two recover them in a passably comfortable piazza after having trim back link with their respective “ employers , ” who are still incertain what to make of them after the climactic events of time of year one . But there ’s always room for chaos in Good Omens .
Photo: Mark Mainz/Prime Video
“ They ’re sort of like an old married duet by the clip we pick up with them in season two , ” Sheen say . “ I think for Aziraphale , he ’s gotten everything he ’s always want — but he ’s also very confuse by his berth . On the one hand , for a very long time , all he ’s really wanted is to be capable to sit in his bookshop and read books , and listen to music and deplete nice food , and have cups of teatime and the periodic hot burnt umber , and then a nice feeding bottle of wine and hang out with the being he most likes being with . He ’s got that now . But at the same meter , I think he ’s always someone who has matte a great deal of security as being part of the company . He ’s very much a company man in that respect . So being independent from heaven is very upsetting for him ; I presuppose in some way that make him hang all the more to the human relationship with Crowley . But it definitely feels like thing have settled into that kinship now , and settled into committing to being on Earth surrounded by all manner of earthly things . ”
Good Omens fans reply to the Aziraphale - Crowley relationship with bully ebullience — and that ’s put it gently . “ It was both incredibly surprising and just wonderful , ” Sheen suppose of time of year one ’s reception . “ I ’ve never really experienced anything like that . David has had the whole Dr. Who experience and so was kind of more disposed for it . But it was very new to me and I utterly make out it . It was just so wonderful to see how masses responded creatively , with all the fanfiction and the art and the cosplaying and all of that , which is just awful and breathtaking , to see the gift that they have , and how much multitude acquire these characters and their stories to heart and soul . And then just take in the residential area that spring up as well … [ there was a ] very diverse hearing for this narration and these characters , and seeing how much the great unwashed were brought together and supporting each other and help each other [ as a termination of Good Omens ] … it felt like a real honour and a privilege to to be a piffling part of that . ”
Tennant knows what it means to be the object of passionate fandom — and his meter with Doctor Who is n’t over yet , sincehe’ll be lead the series ’ 60th day of remembrance special subsequently this year — but he was still surprised by the tidal wave of making love that Good Omens encounter . “ I do n’t remember I ’d quite understood how darling this book was or these characters were until we were shoot it — and I kept meet more and more people who who were so thrilled that we were making the show , but only but also a little mo worried that we might fall in their dreams , ” he said . “ So then it feel like you ’re carrying a Ming vase across a minefield , and that you have to get this right , that you ’re carrying a lot of dreams with you and a lot of expectations . To have it well receive was a immense stand-in and enormously humbling actually , because it has mean so much to so many people over decades . Seeing all the Crowleys and Aziraphales do to Comic - Con , and almost always as a duo , which I imagine is the loveliest thing — you very rarely see a Crowley or Aziraphale , you almost always see two good partner who ’ve derive together . And that , I think , is probably been the thing that tells me most of all that we got at least a part of it right-hand . That ’s what I feel very proud of , certainly . ”
Image: Courtesy of Prime Video
Good Omens season one had Gaiman and Pratchett ’s novel to guide its history . Season two expands into new territory for the lineament , but it ’s still coming from the imaginativeness of its creators . “ From the kickoff , Neil always told us that he and Terry had thought much further ahead with the storey than Quran one . We knew that there were all kinds of ideas and storylines that existed in Neal ’s pass that he and Terry had spill about and work on . But at the same time , we had no idea that any of those would become a realism . We just thought we were doing a one - off story , ” Sheen say . “ That one - off news report also happen to be a book that I had read when it came out , when I was in my late teens and that was a favorite of mine , and that one - one-half of the writing partnership was Neil Gaiman , who is probably one of my preferent writers of all time and whose piece of work I love . So working on the adjustment of the Holy Scripture , it was both a form of dreaming number true , but also a massive pressure because there was it felt like a huge responsibility . And also , unknown to be bringing this story that I knew so well and these characters that I knew so well to life — sort of being on the inside of them . That was a very peculiar experience . ”
Sheen continued . “ So get into series two , it did feel very dissimilar , yes , but kind of loose in all variety of slipway — and specially once we get the script and we could see that they were terrific , and it palpate very much like still being in the world of the first serial , but getting to research all kinds of new region . It was really , really exciting . And it was very moving , coming back to the characters again . When I first put my costume back on , and my hairsbreadth had been bleached again and all that , I suddenly saw [ Aziraphale ] looking out from the mirror — that was very moving . When David walk on to set , and I see him for the first time — I was on localise as Aziraphale , and he come on dressed as Crowley — that was very moving to see him . And for them to suddenly be together again was a very aroused instant . ”
Tennant had a like feeling coming into season two . “ Neil had always told us that he and Terry had ambitions for a subsequence , or at least they ’d had give-and-take about it . There are some component in serial one that I think hail from conversations that Neil and Terry had many years antecedently about where those characters might go , ” he said . “ It feels like we ’re still part of the same continuum ; only Neal knows really how much is entirely novel material and how much comes from idea that might have been had between him and Terry many years ago . But it sure enough sense like the same globe and same story ; it all sense very natural and sort of an constitutional evolution for these grapheme . It ’s a very different type of narration — it ’s quite dissimilar structurally but it still feels like it ’s part of the same world . It just feel like a delight , really , to be revisit these character and telling more stories with them . ”
Image: Courtesy of Prime Video
Sheen indicate out that even though Good Omens has a fantastical setting , it has very found radical . “ I find that [ the themes in ] all of Neil ’s body of work seem to be very similar , which is : we ’re all human and we have to just count after each other . The themes come back to the simple of things , [ like ] love , and being forgive and kind , and accepting people ’s flaws . That ’s always what it come back to with Neil , ” he say . “ I reckon the fact that he is able to weave these sinful , epic , judgment - turn storey around that is why people respond [ so strongly ] . That is n’t going to change . That is always going to be the theme . But I theorize , in terms of the context — if you think the apocalypse was bad , just wait to see what ’s coming down the road next . ”
And what about the future ? Both Sheen and Tennant say they ’d absolutely desire to return for more Good Omens , if that chance happens to come along . “ From the very beginning , we found the characters both individually and as a relationship so enjoyable to play . It would be very difficult to not want to come back , ” Sheen said .
“ I mean we are there to be further stories to be told and I envisage we ’d be quite happy to tell them , ” Tennant agreed , mark that the end of season two is “ certainly teasing the idea that there might be another story to tell at some point . ”
Good Omens season two come July 28 on Prime Video .
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David TennantFantasyGood OmensMichael SheenNeil Gaiman
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