Good Omens is finally flying back to our screens. “Finally!” cry all the Crowley and Aziraphale shippers who may feel like their prayers have been answered whilst watching the trailer. Let’s look at who is reprising their role, who is returning as a new character, and who is brand new in a show that loves to keep us on our toes.
Good Omens 2 picks up where we left off in season one, the antichrist has been disarmed and Armageddon avoided. It’s all in a day’s work for a demon and an angel duo. The two are now attempting to return to the way their lives were before, Aziraphale with his bookshop and Crowley doing, well whatever Crowley does. Their problems are not over though, with more trouble looming on the horizon.
A year before the first book’s publication, back in 1989, the two authors of Good Omens, Pratchett and Gaiman sat in their shared hotel room discussing a sequel that would never end up being written as their lives and other work took over. Now, that sequel has a chance to live through the television adaption, with Gaiman stating on his website:
“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.”
The aforementioned angel is none other than Archangel Gabriel, leader of the angels of heaven. The tagline for the second season states that the upcoming story will deal with how the two try to figure out this new mess.
“While Crowley is leery as to why the archangel has come to the bookshop, Aziraphale is keen to solve the mystery behind Gabriel’s condition. However, hiding the archangel from both Heaven and Hell quickly disrupts their lives in unforeseen ways. To solve this mystery and thwart Heaven and Hell in the process, the duo will need more than a miracle; they’ll need to once again rely on each other.”
Good Omens has a rather expansive ensemble cast, with many characters playing smaller guest roles, so let’s have a look at who the main players will be.
Returning to their roles:
David Tennant – Crowley
Tennant (Doctor Who, Jessica Jones) is returning as the grumpy demon Crowley, who has gone down in biblical history as being the demon who turned into a snake in order to trick Eve into eating the apple, thus resulting in humanity leaving the Garden of Eden. Since then, the demon has been bumming around on Earth pretending to get on with his demon jobs, where for the most part, humans seem to be doing a pretty good job of making themselves miserable. He does note he had a hand in the creation of the M25 ring road around London, resulting in making drivers miserable and angry.
Crowley’s only friend is Aziraphale, an angel he has rather a soft spot for and with whom he occasionally grabs tea, and joins forces with to stop the end of the world. You know, regular friend stuff. The trailer for this second season hints that perhaps their relationship may go beyond friendship though.
Michael Sheen – Aziraphale
Aziraphale, played by Sheen (Masters of Sex, Passengers) is a sweet-hearted angel who occasionally exhibits a more devious side. He will go down as the angel that gave Adam and Eve a flaming sword from heaven, akin to the story of Prometheus giving humanity fire, the fire they would use to create but also destroy. He too is not that fond of doing the job set to him by heaven and so, like Crowley, has resided on Earth for thousands of years living as an English gentleman who loves tea and books, running his own bookstore in London.
Aziraphale is so fond of humanity, and the many restaurants he gets to sample in the city, that he works with Crowley to avert the end of days. Now he must deal with the angel Gabriel, who has come to him with a very important mission, though he seems to have forgotten just what that mission was, which is very worrisome.
Jon Hamm – Gabriel
Hamm (Mad Men, Top Gun: Maverick) returns to play Archangel Gabriel, the leader of the angels reprising his role from the first season. Gabriel was very happy to let the world end in the first season, stating it was all part of a plan, but now he has lost much of his authority given that he has landed in Aziraphale’s bookshop with no memory of who he is or what he is doing.
He cryptically tells Aziraphale that he felt, “so long as I came here, something terrible might now happen to me.” You can see the absolute confusion that Gabriel throws them all into in the above sneak peek from the second series.
Doon Mackichan – Archangel Michael
Mackichan is returning to play the rather cold and calculating angel Michael. Not the biggest fan of Aziraphale, whom she considers a traitor, we wonder how she will react to the loss of Gabriel. Will she see a power vacuum that needs filling? Or will she put all her efforts into recovering their leader?
Gloria Obianyo – Archangel Uriel
Obianyo is back as Uriel, a calm angel that does her best to follow the plan. Though she seems a little more composed than Michael, she can display aggression, especially towards Aziraphale.
Derek Jacobi – Metatron
Jacobi lends his face and voice to Metatron, the Emissary of God, though not God himself (or in this case herself given that God was portrayed as the narrator throughout the show by Francis McDormand). McDormand is not returning to play God in the second season, so perhaps we will see even more of Jacobi as he carries out God’s word.
Same faces, new roles
Maggie Service – Maggie
Service is back in a new role. Last season saw her play the satanic nun Sister Theresa Garrulous, one of the nuns responsible for the birth of the antichrist a.k.a. Adam. Now she is back in a brand new role as Maggie, a record store owner whose shop is right next to Azriraphale’s bookshop in Soho.
Nina Sosanya – Nina
Sosanya also played one of the satanic nuns in season one, Sister Mary Loquacious, who later reinvented herself as Mary Lodges. Much like Service, Sosanya is playing a character with her own name, Nina, and, again like Service, runs a shop right by Azariphale’s store, though this time it is a coffee shop. Nina knows how to handle the crowds of Soho, though we wonder what role she, and Maggie, will have in the upcoming story.
Miranda Richardson – Shax
Richardson played Madame Tracy in the first season, the medium/”intimate caregiver” that lived opposite Sergeant Shadwell’s apartment. She is now back, but this time as an entirely new character, playing the demon Shax who has taken over Crowley’s job, seeing as Crowley has essentially turned his back on Hell and his duties. The actress appears to be playing a decent role in the upcoming season just as she did in the first season, with Shax looking like they could actually pose a danger compared to many of the other incompetant demons.
Newcomers
Quelin Sepulveda – Angel Muriel
Sepulveda plays newcomer angel, Muriel, who is tasked with trying to find Gabriel but seems rather inept on Earth, struggling to fit in with human behavior. She also doesn’t appear to be very sharp and is easily deceived by both Aziraphale and Crowley. Muriel has spent the last 6000 years in an office job they are desperate to leave, which probably explains why she is so out of touch with humanity. It looks as if she will play a big role in the second season.
Shelley Conn – New Beelzebub
Fresh off of Bridgerton, Conn will play a very different character to that of Lady Sharma in Good Omens. She has taken over as the new Beelzebub from actress Anna Maxwell Martin, who had scheduling conflicts. In season two she will act as the new leader of Hell and we are excited to see what mischief she has in store for us, with Gaiman promising, “She’s every bit as awful as Anna Maxwell Martin was.”
Lizz Carr – Angel Saraqael
You may recognize Carr as one of the two detectives from The Witcher, and now she is back on our screens as the newest addition to heaven, angel Saraqael. It is unknown currently how involved in the story Saraqael will be.
Season two will see a range of returning and old characters. Mark Gatiss (Sherlock), Steve Pemberton (The League of Gentlemen), Reece Shearsmith (The League of Gentlemen), and Niamh Walsh (The Sandman) will return for this second season as well, meaning we have more time-hopping ahead of us. Other newcomers include Dame Siân Phillips (Dune), Tim Downie (Outlander), Peter Firman (The Magicians), Andi Osho (I May Destroy You), and Alex Norton (Pirates of the Caribbean).
Special mention should be made of Peter Davison (Doctor Who) and Ty Tennant (House of the Dragon), David Tennant’s father-in-law and (adopted) son respectively. The two are joining the cast as Alistair and Ennon, though nothing is yet known about what role these characters will have to play in the season.
The time is nearly upon us as Good Omens 2 will be available on Amazon Prime from July 28.