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REALLY BLOODY EXCELLENT OMENS...

Many, many years ago (it was Hallowe'en 1989, for the curious, the year before Good Omens was published) Terry Pratchett and I were sharing a room at the World Fantasy Convention in Seattle, to keep the costs down, because we were both young authors, and taking ourselves to America and conventions were expensive. It was a wonderful convention. I remember a huge Seattle second-hand bookstore in which I found a dozen or so green-bound Storisende Edition James Branch Cabell books, each signed so neatly by the author that the bookshop people assured me that the signatures were printed, and really ten dollars a book was the correct price.

I could afford books. Good Omens had just been sold to UK publishers and then to US publishers for more money than Terry or I had ever received for anything. (Terry had been incredibly worried about this, certain that receiving a healthy advance would mean the end of his career. When his career didn't end, Terry suggested to his agent that perhaps he ought to be getting that kind of advance for every book from now on, and his life changed, and he stopped having to share a hotel room to save money. But I digress.) Advance reading copies of Good Omens had not yet gone out, but a few editors had read it (ones who had bid for it but failed to buy it) and they all seemed very excited about it, and thrilled for us.

On the Saturday evening Terry left the bar quite early and headed off to bed. I stayed up talking to people and having a marvelous time, hung in there until the small hours of the morning when they closed the hotel bar and all the people went away, and then headed up to the hotel room room.

I opened the door as quietly as I could and tiptoed in the dark across the room to where my bed was located.

I'd just reached the bed when, from the far side of the room, a voice said, “What time of the night do you call this then? Your mother and I have been worried sick about you.”

Terry was wide awake. Jet lag had taken its toll.

And I was wide awake too. So we lay in our respective beds and having nothing else to do, we plotted the sequel to Good Omens. It was a good one, too. We fully intended to write it, whenever we next had three or four months free. Only I went to live in America and Terry stayed in the UK, and after Good Omens was published Sandman became SANDMAN and Discworld became DISCWORLD™ and there wasn't ever a good time.

But we never forgot it.

It's been thirty-one years since Good Omens was published, which means it's thirty-two years since Terry Pratchett and I lay in our respective beds in a Seattle hotel room at a World Fantasy Convention, and plotted the sequel. (I got to use bits of the sequel in the TV series version of Good Omens -- that's where our angels came from.)

Terry and I, in Cardiff in 2010, on the night we decided that Good Omens should become a television series.

Terry was clear on what he wanted from Good Omens on the telly. He wanted the story told, and if that worked, he wanted the rest of the story told.

So in September 2017 I sat down in St James' Park, beside the director, Douglas Mackinnon, on a chair with my name on it, as Showrunner of Good Omens. The chair slowly and elegantly lowered itself to the ground underneath me and fell apart, and I thought, that's not really a good omen. Fortunately, under Douglas's leadership, that chair was the only thing that collapsed.

The crumbled chair.

So, once Good Omens the TV series had been released by Amazon and the BBC, to global acclaim, many awards and joy, Rob Wilkins (Terry's representative on Earth) and I had the conversation with the BBC and Amazon about doing some more. And they got very excited. We talked to Michael Sheen and David Tennant about doing some more. They also got very excited. We told them a little about the plot. They got even more excited.

Rob Wilkins and David Tennant on the second day of shooting.

Me and Michael and Ash aged nearly 2.

What it was mostly like shooting Good Omens: peering into screens while something happened round the corner.

I'd been a fan of John Finnemore's for years, and had had the joy of working with him on a radio show called With Great Pleasure, where I picked passages I loved, had amazing readers read them aloud and talked about them.

(Here's a clip from that show of me talking about working with Terry Pratchett, and reading a poem by Terry: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p06x3syv. Here's the whole show from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7OsS_JWbzQ with John Finnemore's bits too.)

L to R: With Great Pleasure. John Finnemore, me all beardy, Nina Sosanya (Sister Mary in Good Omens) Peter Capaldi (he played Islington in the original BBC series of Neverwhere).

I asked John if he'd be willing to work with me on writing the next round of Good Omens, and was overjoyed when he said yes. We have some surprise guest collaborators too. And Douglas Mackinnon is returning to oversee the whole thing with me.

So that's the plan. We've been keeping it secret for a long time (mostly because otherwise my mail and Twitter feeds would have turned into gushing torrents of What Can You Tell Us About It? long ago) but we are now at the point where sets are being built in Scotland (which is where we're shooting, and more about filming things in Scotland soon), and we can't really keep it secret any longer.

There are so many questions people have asked about what happened next (and also, what happened before) to our favourite Angel and Demon. Here are, perhaps, some of the answers you've been hoping for.

As Good Omens continues, we will be back in Soho, and all through time and space, solving a mystery which starts with one of the angels wandering through a Soho street market with no memory of who they might be, on their way to Aziraphale's bookshop.

(Although our story actually begins about five minutes before anyone had got around to saying “Let there be Light”.)

from https://journal.neilgaiman.com/2021/06/really-bloody-excellent-omens.html

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Good Omens Season 2 - what we know so far

(I shall update the post as new info emerges)

Source for Season 2:

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman started planning sequel to the book in 1989 - even before it has been published. But because they careers took off and they had an ocean in the  between them, it was never realized it in the 90s. In 2005 they made another plans to write in a year or so but in 2007 Terry was diagnosed with Alzheimer so again the the plans did not come into fruition. 

Neil is taking what he planned with Terry and is co-writing the second season of the show with John Finnemore, a british comedy writer and actor.

How long has it been in the making:

Neil said that they stared planning it three (!!!) years ago. That means in 2018, a year before the first season came out.

Cast and crew:

The casting has already happened 15 months ago (!) - so in March 2020. 

Writing: Neil Gaiman and co-writer John Finnemore.

Showrunners: Neil Gaiman and Douglas Mackinnon (who directed and executive produced the first season) are going to co-showrun.

Executive producers: Neil Gaiman, Douglas Mackinnon, Rob Wilkins, John Finnemore and Josh Cole (BBC Studios Productions’ Head of Comedy).

Music: David G. Arnold, the music composer for S1 is returning.

Actors: The only actors confirmed so far have been David Tennant and Michael Sheen.

Production: BBC Studios Productions, Amazon Studios, Narrativia and The Blank Corporation

When and where does the filming takes place:

The filming will begin later this year. The entire second season will be shot in Scotland.

The plot:

From Neil’s blog: There are so many questions people have asked about what happened next (and also, what happened before) to our favourite Angel and Demon. Here are, perhaps, some of the answers you’ve been hoping for. As Good Omens continues, we will be back in Soho, and all through time and space, solving a mystery which starts with one of the angels wandering through a Soho street market with no memory of who they might be, on their way to Aziraphale’s bookshop. (Although our story actually begins about five minutes before anyone had got around to saying “Let there be Light”.)

From Neil’s instagram: Game on! There are mysteries, histories, secrets revealed and Something Too Terrible To Be Revealed on the way. Also a cardboard box.

From the BBC website: The new season will explore storylines that go beyond the original source material to illuminate the uncanny friendship between Aziraphale, a fussy angel and rare book dealer, and the fast-living demon Crowley. Having been on Earth since The Beginning and with the Apocalypse thwarted, Aziraphale and Crowley are getting back to easy living amongst mortals in London’s Soho when an unexpected messenger presents a surprising mystery.

Not much info yet, but it seems that after the Flop-Apocalypse Crowley and Aziraphale are back to their nice life amongst the mortals when an amnesiac angel appears in Soho. There will be mysteries and we will again visit the past - even before ‘Let there be Light’ (fingers crossed for more Aziraphale and Crowley through history and the angel Crowley :))). There will also be something called ‘Something Too Terrible To Be Revealed’ which sounds very ominous and also a cardboard box is important.

Also, the unwritten sequel was supposed to be called ‘668: The Neighbour of the Beast’ and after the end the boys were supposed to share a cottage in South Downs :).

Promos:

We have a poster:

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Lord, you're not supposed to know...

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David and Michael at the Graham Norton Show (18.12.2020) :)

Michael: We have since we were on this show promoting Good Omens*, a year and half ago-

David: When we were allowed to sit close to each other.

Michael: -this is only the second time we have physically been with each other since then.

David: And yet, I have stared at this face almost daily.

Michael: I’ve seen more of him than my own family.

David: Yeah, yeah.

*31.5.2019

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Yeeees🥰🥰🥰

Yesss, this moment so gloriously memeable! :D  (And yes, Good Omens Funko Pops are coming! :)))

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How did Hastur know the receptionist's name? (I believe she was named Lisa?)

He’s a demon. They know stuff. 

He knows who you are.

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Neil Gaiman: Crowley has not yet learned that just because you think of yourself as unforgivable it doesn’t mean that you cannot be forgiven. Or, indeed, that you need forgiveness. (x)

Bonus:

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From the DVD commentary, episode 3:

Neil: I kind of wound up having to write this as a love story, and part of the joy of writing a love story is the break-up, because you can’t get back together again unless you’ve broken up. So this is the break-up.

Douglas: I think you can say it’s two actors working at peak.

Neil: They really are. I mean they’re so good. And I remember watching this being shot, knowing how good it was.

…

Douglas: We landed on that location kind of by mistake through scheduling, and I’m so glad we did it that way in the end.

Neil: Oh yeah, it was origially set in-

Douglas: It was set at night, wasn’t it?

Neil: It was set at night in St. James’s Park.

Douglas: But the Queen wouldn’t let us put on lights in St. James’s Park at night.

Neil: Bless.

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🥰

Full acceptance speech - Michael and David - Best Comedy Duo

I Talk Telly Awards 2020

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Demons can.

Heaven teaches the angels rules and facts. We are angels and we do good things and blessings, the demons are bad and possess and tempt people.

But Aziraphale spent thousands of years on Earth in the company of a certain demon. A demon who he had learned was not that different from him. A demon who was still able to perform blessings and do good things. And Aziraphale, an angel, could himself perform demonic tempting work.

So he knows that the angels and demons do not differ that much - and also that the demons used to be angels - so when he is presented with the ‘fact’ that angels cannot possess a human, he immediately thinks: oh really? But ‘demons can’, and because demons can and they are not so different, why couldn’t angels, and thus me? 

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Dear Mr. Gaiman - sorry to bother you but I really need your help. I love GO and enjoy the show immensely, in particular the relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley. However, I also suffer from OCD and scrupolosity and it affects me greatly - I realise it's fiction and it's for fun but I struggle so hard with some aspects due to the fear of somehow being 'unforgivable' due to Crowley being fallen and describing himself as so. I'm sorry if that's offensive. Is there any advice you could give?

Crowley has not yet learned that just because you think of yourself as unforgivable it doesn’t mean that you cannot be forgiven. Or, indeed, that you need forgiveness.

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Michael Sheen and David Tennant on The One Show playing a guessing game about objects they got from sets. (x)

Michael: This is a beautiful book, it’s called Folk Tales of All Nations by F.H. Lee, and it’s beautifully bound, where do you think this is from?

David: I reckon you nicked that off the set of Good Omens.

Michael: I did! It’s from Aziraphale’s bookshop! It’s from Aziraphale’s bookshop which got burned down at the end of the story and so we were asked ‘Do you wanna to keep some of the books?’ so I got a bunch of books from Aziraphale’s bookshop.

Bonus:

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#🥺🥰

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He’s soft

Bonus:

Credit to RED_Far