Good Omens: Unused Gaiman & Pratchett Story Ideas Season 2 Can Use
Good Omens season 2 has officially been confirmed and Neil Gaiman has hinted that it will be based on unused story ideas from a planned sequel to the original book. The announcement came as a surprise to many as the original series told the complete story of the novel, and Gaiman’s co-author for the work, Terry Pratchett, died in 2015 without a sequel ever being completed. Both Gaiman and Rhianna Pratchett, Terry Pratchett’s daughter, had previously said that the show would be a limited series and had downplayed the possibility of a second season.
Good Omens season 1 followed the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley as they attempted to prevent Armageddon because they had grown to enjoy living on Earth. This exploit centered on monitoring the Antichrist and ensuring that he did not become too evil and cause the end of all things in a narrative that riffed on ideas of the 1976 horror film The Omen. While a few changes and additions were made to help it succeed as a television series, the show remained one of the more faithful adaptations of a book to make it to screen.
With David Tennant and Michael Sheen reprising their Good Omens season 1 roles as Crowley and Aziraphale respectively, and Gaiman returning to write and oversee the production, the follow-up might be able to capture the feel of the original. The plot of Good Omens season 2 is still a closely guarded secret, but Gaiman has said that they will be basing it on the unwritten sequel that he and Pratchett planned shortly after completing the original in 1989. The few details already released about that plan begin to paint a picture of the second season.
In his post announcing the second season of Good Omens, Gaiman recounted the story of lying awake in a hotel room with Pratchett thirty years ago and excitedly plotting the sequel together. It was never written because Gaiman moved to the United States and became embroiled with Sandman, while Pratchett’s time was taken up by his Discworld novels. Good Omens season 1 gave audiences one of the few insights into what the sequel to the book might have involved. The Good Omens cast contains more angels than the original book, most notably Jon Hamm’s portrayal of the angel Michael: this change reportedly drew inspiration from that unwritten novel.
A more angel-and-demon-centric story makes sense for the second season, given that the end of Good Omens season 1 sees Crowley and Aziraphale escaping death sentences from their respective cohorts and being othered from their groups. The tension that would now exist between these two outsiders and Heaven and Hell was already likely to drive the plot for the sequel, but Gaiman seems to have confirmed this with a tease of how the series will open. He has said that an angel with no memory of who they are visits Aziraphale’s shop (which Adam Young restored in Good Omens' season 1 ending) and serves as an impetus for the narrative.
The only other piece of information about the planned Good Omens sequel that has been divulged to the general public over the years has been its intended name: 668–The Neighbour of The Beast. While this might be a simple pun on “666–The Number of The Beast,” it is more likely a clue to the planned plot itself. Just as Good Omens played with the title of The Omen to provide a story about what happens when the Antichrist is not as bad as he’s supposed to be, 668–The Neighbour of The Beast would have toyed with expectations too.
When discussing matters of Heaven, Hell, and the Mortal Realm, the question of what defines a “neighbor” gets a little blurred. While the title could refer to another entity within Hell, or The Four Horsemen, that would likely steer the plot too close to that of the original Good Omens. Revisiting the possibility of an Antichrist figure would risk retreading a lot of the same ground, while having already had Lucifer appear briefly at the end of season 1 would weaken the impact of that reveal.
Some hints from Good Omens season 1 suggest that humanity themselves are the subject of the title and the focal point of the new plot. Earth, as the direct neighbor to Hell, could easily be 668: most house numbering conventions (especially in the UK) have each side of the street be either all odd or all even, so skipping a number makes sense. In the closing of Good Omens season 1, after using Agnes Nutter’s prophecies to stop the Apocalypse, Crowley and Aziraphale discuss the fact that the angels and demons both were in favor of Armageddon. They note that while the assumption has been that a final battle would be fought between angels and demons that may not be the case and that the final battle will be angels and demons working together to fight against god’s creation: humanity.
The final option is perhaps the most likely. The title could be indicating that the new titular figure has connections to Heaven instead, supported by the number being two steps away from 666, assuming that 666 is the Antichrist in Hell, 667 could be humanity on Earth, with 668 representing a Christ-like figure or even God themselves. In the original season, God only appears as a disembodied narrator that cannot be reached by the characters, and having the protagonists have to “find God” would have a very Gaiman/Pratchett feel to it. Additionally, Jesus appeared briefly, but only as he was being crucified for telling people to be kind. A second-coming narrative could provide an opportunity for some interesting parallels to the first season while bringing in a new source of satire.
Most hints for the exact plot of Good Omens season 2 have been kept very close to the vest. Leaks have so far been avoided, and filming was already underway when the existence of the season was announced. These small clues give a good indication of what to expect, but a clearer image of where the show is going to go will have to wait for a trailer.
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