Jon Hamm is an amnesiac archangel lost in Soho in Good Omens S2 trailer

We loved Prime Video’s 2019 TV adaptation of Good Omens, the classic 1990 satirical fantasy novel by Neil Gaiman and the late Terry Pratchett. Stars David Tennant and Michael Sheen were perfectly cast as a demon and angel joining forces to avert Armageddon. But is it possible to recapture that magic in a second season, especially when it was originally meant to be a six-part limited series? The official trailer just released, and we’re hopeful that the answer might just be yes.

(Spoilers for S1 below.) 

As I’ve written previously, Good Omens is the story of an angel, Aziraphale (Sheen), and a demon, Crowley (Tennant), who gradually become friends over the millennia and team up against the forces of both Heaven and Hell to save Earth from destruction. They’ve come to be rather fond of the Earth and all its humans with their many foibles, you see—not to mention the perks that come with our big blue orb, like sleek electronics and quaint little restaurants where they know you. The supernatural pair doesn’t really want the Antichrist—an 11-year-old boy named Adam (Sam Taylor Buck) who has grown up unaware of his pivotal role in the coming apocalypse—to bring an end to all of that.

Good Omens was a big success, earning mostly rave reviews, including from Ars. As I noted in my review, Gaiman’s obvious deep-down, fierce love for the project (he served as an executive producer) made the series a sheer joy to watch. Tennant and Sheen had terrific onscreen chemistry and brought their respective characters to vivid life. It’s hard to imagine a more perfect foil to Tennant’s brashly irreverent demon than Sheen’s sweetly anxious angel fretting over his divided loyalties. Their friendship was very much the heart of the tale, and it mirrors that of Gaiman and Pratchett in many respects. Marrying the dark vision of the former and light comic sensibility of the latter produced the best of both worlds in the novel.

Michael Sheen and David Tennant reprise their roles as Aziraphale and Crowley.

Credit: Prime Video

That first season perfectly covered all the events of the book. So I was initially skeptical when rumors swirled that a second season was in the works. By June 2021, the news was official, with Gaiman explaining on his blog that, in fact, he and Pratchett had already mapped out a sequel for Good Omens way back in 1989, right before the novel was published. Still struggling authors, they were sharing a room at the World Fantasy Convention in Seattle. Jet lag kept them up late, so an idea for a sequel was born. They had every intention of writing it together. But then Gaiman published the first Sandman graphic novel, and Pratchett unleashed the Discworld series, “and there wasn’t ever a good time” after that.

In fact, parts of the sequel ended up in S1 (“that’s where our angels came from”). Pratchett died in 2015 and never got to see their combined vision brought to life on television. But he’d been clear about his desire for a TV adaptation. “He wanted the story told, and if that worked, he wanted the rest of the story told,” Gaiman wrote. So here we are, eagerly awaiting S2.

Miranda Richardson is back in a new role as the demon Shax.

Credit: Prime Video

Naturally, Sheen and Tennant are both returning. Jon Hamm is also back as the deliciously smarmy Archangel Gabriel, the ultimate not-too-bright bureaucrat, along with Doon Mackichan and Gloria Obianyo as archangels Michael and Uriel, respectively. Miranda Richardson delighted viewers as the part-time medium and courtesan Madame Tracy; she’s also back for the second season but in a new role as the demon Shax. New cast members include Maggie Service as Maggie, Nina Sosanya as Nina, Liz Carr as angel Saraqael, Quelin Sepulveda as angel Muriel, and Shelley Conn as the demon Beelzebub (played in S1 by Anna Maxwell Martin).