Good Omens, on Prime Video, is based on the eponymous novel by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnus Nutter. Season one premiered in 2019 to much renown and fan worship. But it’s impressive that the show was created at all due to Neil Gaiman’s stalwart attitude that he and Terry Pratchett would work on their Good Omens project “together or not at all.”

And ever since Pratchett’s tragic death in 2015, Gaiman has had to journey this project as its sole progenitor. But with another co-writer, Gaiman said this about his crew:

The series was always surrounded by magic, though. It began with a famous story of Pratchett writing a letter to Gaiman while they were both working on adapting it as a screenplay. Knowing the end was near, Pratchett instructed the letter to be mailed to Gaiman after his death and beseeched him to continue working on Good Omens even though he was no longer around. And thankfully, Gaiman granted his wish. Now the esteemed author has returned for another bite at the proverbial apple to make season two.

“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. 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.”

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Gaiman and the series director, Douglas Mackinnon, held a New York Comic Con panel about the new season of Good Omens. Though they didn’t reveal much about the plot, they released some teaser footage and discussed new characters that would be in season 2. The show will be full of surprises, with Gaiman and Finnemore having created a few new characters that we haven’t seen before, even in the book. Along with some exciting new characters, we’ve gotten a release window as well. Here are all the exciting updates from Neil Gaiman’s New York Comic Con panel.

Updated October 2022 by Ted Bajer: If you’re excited about the upcoming season of Prime Video’s Good Omens, you’ll be happy to know we’ve updated this article with more details!

Season 2: The Plot

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Neil Gaiman has said that this series is not entirely based on the novel, or rather the novel alone. Gaiman and Pratchett had once mused upon making a sequel to their collaborative work. “It’s 31 years since Good Omens was published, which means it’s 32 years since Terry Pratchett and I lay in our respective beds in a Seattle hotel room at a World Fantasy Convention and plotted the sequel,” said Gaiman to TVLine.

They had quite a funny title for the book – 668: The Neighbour of the Beast. Gaiman continued, “I got to use bits of the sequel in Good Omens – that’s where our angels came from. Terry’s not here any longer, but when he was, we had talked about what we wanted to do with Good Omens and where the story went next.”

The ideas were “[things like] expanding into heaven and hell,” he said in a conversation with Digital Spy. “Gabriel (Jon Hamm) is not in the book, but he and the other angels, and a bunch of the other demons, come from all the conversations Terry Pratchett and I had about what we would do in a second book.” So it seems the brainstorming process was completed long before any ideas were even thought of being put on screen.

Season 2: The Cast

Naturally, Michael Sheen and David Tennant return to reprise their roles as the stuffy angel Aziraphale and the fast-living demon Crowley, respectively. And Prime Video has given us a list of those in season one who will appear in season two. But an interesting note is that during that press release, they announced that some actors would be returning under the names of different characters. Among those returning from season one will be Michael McKean, Gloria Obianyo, Miranda Richardson, Maggie Service, Reece Shearsmith, Nina Sosanya, Shelley Conn, and Paul Adeyefa.

Michael McKean played the dutiful and lovable Sergeant Shadwell, the last officer of the Witchfinder Army. Shadwell eventually settled down with former enemy Madame Tracy (Miranda Richardson), a courtesan and part-time medium. Gloria Obianyo was the archangel Uriel. Maggie Service played Sister Theresa Garrulous, who, alongside Sister Mary Loquacious (Nina Sosanya), became former satanic nuns of the Chattering Order of St. Beryl. Reece Shearsmith had the wonderful and hilarious opportunity to play Shakespeare. And Paul Adeyefa played a silly, slightly confused demon.

Maggie Service will be playing a record shop owner named…Maggie. And Nina Sosanya will play a coffee shop owner name…Nina. Gaiman did this as a way of getting the actors back for these new roles. He said at NYCC, “…in order to make it clear to everyone reading the script that those characters were going to be played by Maggie and Nina, I called them Maggie and Nina.”

Instead of playing her role from season one, Miranda Richardson will be a demon named Shax, who has come to earth to replace Crowley. One new casting announcement is Quelin Sepulveda, who will be playing an angel Muriel. Hers is a new character that came out of a conversation Gaiman had with Finnemore. He said this about creating the new character: “When John Finnemore and I were talking about what we wanted in season 2, we realized that one thing we didn’t have in heaven was — apart from Aziraphale — any nice, well-meaning angels, all we had were bastards!”

Douglas Mackinnon will be returning as a co-showrunner with Gaiman. Mackinnon said in the press release:

Release Date

Neil Gaiman, along with director Douglas Mackinnon and executive producer Rob Wilkins, announced at New York Comic Con that season 2 would premiere sometime in the summer of 2023.

“Having a company of players reuniting for this second season of Good Omens is like bringing a family back together, this time in Scotland. Not only the cast, but also many of our Good Omens Season One crew have reassembled. Our team is being enriched with new talent on both sides of the camera so I am excited to be at the helm for six more episodes of what we hope will be heavenly entertainment.”