Things We Saw Today: Our First Look at Aziraphale and Crowley Back in the Bookshop for Good Omens 2

Greetings, angels and demons—the time is nigh! After we were teased with a glimpse of Michael Sheen’s newly celestial-white locks, Amazon Prime Video’s second season of Good Omens is now officially in full swing.

In new pictures released today by Good Omens co-author and season two showrunner Neil Gaiman, we bear witness to visions of stars Michael Sheen (as the fussy angel Aziraphale) and David Tennant (as the slithery demon Crowley).

In the first shot, Sheen and Tennant are out of character and having an animated conversation on-set—the two are longtime friends and collaborators, most recently working on lockdown TV show Staged together.

Gaiman writes that the actors are being “perfectly effable,” a reference to Good Omens’ constant in-joke use of the word “ineffable” to describe, well, everything that cannot be explained. “Ineffable” was uttered so often in season one that the romantic ship of Aziraphale/Crowley is referred to online as “Ineffable Husbands.” (The shipping of this odd couple has been around since the book’s publication in 1990 but exploded in the wake of the show, which saw the characters written with the beats of a love story.)

Then we see our first shot of Sheen and Tennant truly back in character:

This is a fitting return to Aziraphale and Crowley. They’re in Aziraphale’s beloved bookshop. Aziraphale has his tartan bowtie and a dainty new teacup (replacing his iconic angel-wing mug?) and appears somewhat alarmed at what he’s hearing. Next to him, Crowley is wearing his trademark sunglasses (which hide his yellow snake eyes) and is in his customary black clothing.

Crowley’s reaction to the person (or entity) the pair are talking to is a toothy grin—or is that a menacing grimace? Either way, the picture captures both characters’ personalities pretty damn perfectly and plunges us straight back into the universe of Good Omens on television.

What makes this go-round so exciting (and for some fans, trepidatious) is that while a good deal of the plot of the first season closely hewed to the events of the book, Good Omens 2 will be exploring new ground. A few elements from a planned but unwritten sequel by the late Terry Pratchett and Gaiman made their way into the first season, and we expect many will appear in the second.

Much else remains a mystery, as Amazon’s official summary reminds:

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. 

Are Aziraphale and Crowley meeting that “unexpected messenger” in this very picture?

According to Empire, the series will feature some additional familiar faces from season one:

Also back are Paul Adeyefa, Michael McKean, Gloria Obianyo, Miranda Richardson, Maggie Service, Reece Shearsmith and Nina Sosanya, though some will be in entirely new roles (the Good Omens team is playing coy on that front for now.)

And Empire quotes Gaiman discussing the new production:

“I am so happy to be back here on the streets of Soho, watching, every day, the glorious performances of Michael Sheen and David Tennant. I miss having Terry Pratchett’s genius, but it does feel like we are still all walking around inside his head,” says Gaiman. “It’s been an absolute pleasure to have the brilliant John Finnemore co-write this season’s story shenanigans with me, and to work with director and my co-showrunner Douglas Mackinnon as he steers the ship, along with our astonishing crew, who have returned to do it again.

“In this season we get to have new adventures with old friends, to solve some extremely mysterious mysteries, and we encounter some entirely new humans (living, dead, and otherwise), angels, and demons. We were lucky in the first season to have so many outstanding actors taking part, so I took pleasure in inviting people back, wherever we could, some in the roles they played originally, some in new parts written just for them.”

Our corporeal bodies are ready.

(images: Amazon Studios/Neil Gaiman on Twitter)

Here are some other things we saw today:

• Charlottesville’s mayor has had enough. (via Politico)
• David Byrne and Stephen Colbert danced together, who could ask for anything more? (image: Pajiba)
• See more

  Our story: https://t.co/LoBdcDwAsD

  — Publishers Weekly (@PublishersWkly) November 2, 2021

• “Nintendo hacker Gary Bowser pleads guilty” (via Eurogamer)
• Eternals director Chloé Zhao may be eyeing a Dracula movie next! (via Slashfilm)
• Shockingly, the “SQUID coin” cryptocurrency, inspired by Squid Game, wasn’t great for those playing. (via Comicbook.com)

What did you see out there today?

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Kaila Hale-Stern

Kaila Hale-Stern (she/her) is a content director, editor, and writer who has been working in digital media for more than fifteen years. She started at TMS in 2016. She loves to write about TV—especially science fiction, fantasy, and mystery shows—and movies, with an emphasis on Marvel. Talk to her about fandom, queer representation, and Captain Kirk. Kaila has written for io9, Gizmodo, New York Magazine, The Awl, Wired, Cosmopolitan, and once published a Harlequin novel you'll never find.

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