Because American Gods wasn’t enough work on its own, author Neil Gaiman is readying up a project focused on adapting another of his fantasy novels, Good Omens, for the small screen. Set to be a six-part event series, Gaiman made the official announcement at a memorial event for Terry Pratchett this week, who co-authored the novel with him back in 1990, and passed away March 2015.
Interestingly, the duo apparently had a deal where they would only ever work on a Good Omens adaptation together. But Gaiman was given a posthumous letter by Pratchett giving his blessing to move forward with the series himself if he ever chose to do so. Thankfully for fans, he has.
Although Gaiman had previously declined to adapt the novel, explaining, “Terry and I had a deal that we would only work on ‘Good Omens’ things together,” Pratchett left a letter posthumously, giving his blessing to his friend to write the series himself.
The novel, fully titled Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, is a doozy to summarize, similar to Gaiman’s other works. The gist is that a demon and an angel are pretty bummed out about the incoming apocalypse (set to happen on a Saturday of all days), so they go on a quest to prevent the End of Days, which mainly centers around the discovery that the Antichrist is a normal English kid who got mixed up at the hospital when he was born.
Comparably out-there director Terry Gilliam eyed the project and meant to adapt it as a film as far back as 2002, but plans fell through. Now, Gaiman himself is preparing himself to write the six-episode series, which has yet to land any kind of network or distribution model. Might Starz become the source for Gaiman adaptations after its debut of American Gods?
We’ll keep you updated on news regarding Good Omens, so stay tuned.