Good Omens (TV)

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This page is about the TV fandom; you may also be interested in the Good Omens (book) fandom.

Fandom
Name: Good Omens
Abbreviation(s): GO
Creator: Neil Gaiman
Date(s): 2019-
Medium: TV miniseries
Country of Origin: UK
External Links: Good Omens at IMDb
Good Omens at Wikipedia
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

A much-anticipated series starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen was released on Amazon Prime Video in May 2019,[1] kicking off a widespread Good Omens fandom revival that seemed to consume all of fandom. The TV series introduced many new fans to Good Omens and caused many long-time fans of the book to rediscover or revisit their love of the novel. It also prompted an explosion of fanworks, including fanfiction, fanart, and meta, some of which analyzed the differences in themes and tone between the book and TV series.

This explosion of fannish activity was aided and abetted by actor Michael Sheen being an enthusiastic onlooker and participant in the fandom, responding to fans on Twitter when tagged, referencing and praising fanworks,[2] and making unequivocal statements of support for fandom.[3][4] Author Neil Gaiman, who wrote the TV series, also encouraged fans on social media and tirelessly responded to Asks of every kind about the book and show on his Tumblr.[5]

A second season of the series was announced in June 2021 and filming started in September 2021.[6]

The third and final season was announced December 2023.[7]

Synopsis and Characters

Season 1

Characters

  • Aziraphale
  • Crowley
  • Arthur Young
  • Deirdre Young
  • Hastur
  • Ligur
  • Thaddeus Dowling
  • Beelzebub
  • Sister Mary Loquacious
  • Archangel Michael
  • Adam Young
  • Archangel Gabriel
  • the voice of God
  • Anathema Device
  • Madame Tracy
  • Witchfinder Sergent Shadwell
  • Newton Pulsifer
  • War
  • Famine
  • Polution
  • Death

Synopsis

See the plot Synopsis and list of Characters on the Good Omens (book) fandom page.

Season 2

Characters

  • Muriel, angelic Inspector Constable
  • Maggie, owner of the local record shop, tenant of Aziraphale, and love interest of Maggie
  • Nina, owner of the coffee shop Give Me Coffee Or Give Me Death and love interest of Maggie
  • Saraqael, archangel

Synopsis

As Neil Gaiman put it in an interview "Season two is kind of quiet and gentle and romantic", though the fandom might not necessarily agree with him.

The long anticipated second season is centered around the mystery of how the Archangel Gabriel (Aziraphale's former boss) has seemingly lost his memories and why he turned up on Aziraphale's doorstep entirely nude. While investigating Gabriel's amnesia Crowley and Aziraphale also embark on a mission to influence Maggie and Nina to fall in love in order to cover up a larger miracle they performed together. Heaven and Hell are also on the hunt for the missing Archangel and it is a race against the forces of Above and Below to discover what has happened to him and why.

Season 3

Season 3 is expected to come out in 2025 at the earliest.


Fandom

Season 1

After the release of the TV miniseries, the fandom experienced a major boom. Book fans were happy with the adaptation, even those who hadn’t seen it:

[nentuaby]
What I’m really loving about Good Omens is that for once the thing has been adapted closely enough that I can absolutely appreciate the fandom resurgence purely for the sake of the source material, even though I’m probably not going to get around to watching the adaptation for months if not years. (Television is Not My Medium due to the way my ADD plays.)

As far as I’m concerned, everyone’s just suddenly making Ineffable Husbands gifs with a really consistent visual fanon and it’s amazing.[8]

In response to the fandom's boom, The Rec Center newsletter #180 on June 14, 2019, contained "fanfiction + explainer: good omens", a primer/fandom overview by guest editor Kira:

If you hadn’t heard of Good Omens before, you probably did in the last two weeks—after the miniseries adaptation was released and took the internet by storm. The story of a Biblical apocalypse and the angel and demon trying to prevent it, the nearly thirty-year-old book fandom is experiencing a new growth spurt thanks to the show. For new fans it’s well worth digging into the older parts of fandom and the huge amounts of content therein.

Good Omens has a long history as a slash fandom; while perhaps not a grandparent of slash, it’s at least a favourite aunt. Aziraphale and Crowley’s relationship in the book is that of an old married couple, an interpretation that was only bolstered by the authors’ revelation that post-canon they were sharing a cottage in the South Downs.[9] There are multiple fandom introductions/starter packs,[10][note 1] and a great place to dig into the history of the fandom is Lower Tadfield Air Base, a Livejournal community that’s been running since 2003. This was the centre of the fandom for many years, and is meticulously tagged for easy browsing. The recs tag is an excellent place to start if you want to see what people were recommending back in the day.

Season 2

Fan Reactions

The entire season had an overall positive reception from fans, but many were upset over how the season ended. Posting to social media with the use of crying reaction gifs after seeing the season finale were extremely common[11][12]. There was also calls from fans to trust the process or keep the faith, and reminding other fans that although this hurt it was not the end of the story[13][14].

Fan Theories

Almost immediately following the release of Season 2, several fan theories were spawned to help explain Aziraphale's behaviour in the finale, see the Coffee Theory, and other minor inconsistencies throughout season 2, see The Magic Trick You Didn’t See: Being An Analysis of Good Omens Season 2.

Tropes Influenced by Season 2

  • Fix-it: because season 2 ended with Aziraphale and Crowley being separated and essentially broken up, there was a huge amount of fic trying to "fix" the ending. This may include ending rewrites where Aziraphale does not leave Crowley, or speculative fic of how they could possibly come back together. There are also some fics that explored what would have happened if Crowley had joined Aziraphale in Heaven, see the fic Factory Settings as an example.
  • 1960's Femme Aziraphale & Crowley: after Gaiman stated that 1960's femme presenting Aziraphale/Crowley had been one of his ideas for S2 that didn't pan out, fans began to draw the pair of them as such.
  • Beelzebub/Gabriel: since Beelzebub/Gabriel went canon in season 2, there was an increase of inclusion of the pairing in fanworks, usually in the background of Aziraphale/Crowley stories, but also fanworks focused solely on them increased[15]

2024 news of Neil Gaiman's sexual misconduct

There have been multiple accusations of sexual assault committed by Neil Gaiman; for information on the accounts of the incidents, and panfandom reactions to the news, please see the Neil Gaiman article.

Finale

Pairings

The juggernaut pairing in Good Omens fandom is Aziraphale/Crowley. The pairing had a variety of names previously, but post-show “Ineffable Husbands” became the most popular, later on there was a push to use the smush name Aziracrow, because it was more inclusive of their fluid gender presentations, but most fans seem to use the terms interchangeably. Since airing, the series and the original novel have been referred to as a "6000 year slow burn", and this tag also began appearing on works featuring the Aziraphale/Crowley pairing. Season 2 made Aziraphale/Crowley explicitly canon, bringing much joy to the fandom.

Season 1 of TV fandom brought some attention to minor pairings that had not been very common previously, such as Beelzebub/Gabriel and Hastur/Ligur. These pairings can often be side pairings in Aziraphale/Crowley stories, but there are a small number of fanworks focused on them exclusively.

After season 2, there is also the introduction of the canon femslash pairing of Maggie/Nina. The second season also made the pairing of Beelzebub/Gabriel canon, to the surprise of many, but to the delight of the ship's fans.

Challenges

See also List of Good Omens Challenges

Communities

Fanwork Examples

Art

See also Category:Good Omens Art:

Fic

Vids

Frame Projects

Zines

For a full listing of zines on Fanlore see Category:Good Omens Zines

Meta

May duplicate examples on the Good Omens (book) fandom page.

Example Art Gallery

Some examples of fanart influenced by the television series:

Links

Notes and References

Notes

  1. ^ Some Good Omens Fans complained that the Fish Support Group post had so many important names forgotten, the author himself made this mistake clear and apologized, however later in several reposts. About this situation the user @sous-le-saule posted on April 21, 2017 a series of 3 reposts adding more artists and saying "When will I stop forgetting ppl? (I’ll probably make a proper reblog when I’ll be sure everybody’s in ^^)". "Books & Trees — Good Omens Fandom Welcome Pack (4/3/17)". 2017-04-21. Archived from the original on 2021-09-19.

References

  1. ^ Good Omens release date CONFIRMED: Neil Gaiman Amazon Prime Video series arrives in May 2019 - Radio Times, Archived version
  2. ^ Tweet by Michael Sheen, June 25, 2019 (Accessed December 27, 2019).
  3. ^ Tweet by Michael Sheen, June 19, 2019. (Accessed December 27, 2019).
  4. ^ Tweet by Michael Sheen, August 27, 2019. (Accessed December 27, 2019).
  5. ^ Tumblr response by Neil Gaiman, November 19, 2021. (Accessed May 18, 2022)
  6. ^ Good Omens Season 2 Filming Begins, Screenrant Article, October 10, 2021.
  7. ^ https://screenrant.com/good-omens-season-3-story-cast-neil-gaiman-plan/
  8. ^ "Nentuaby's Tumblr — What I'm really loving about Good Omens is that..." 2019-06-25. Archived from the original on 2022-04-09.
  9. ^ "(lives between pages) • This is why 2005, like 1990, means the world to us:". 2013-04-21. Archived from the original on 2021-09-19.
  10. ^ "Fish Support Group • Good Omens Fandom Welcome Pack (4/3/17)". 2017-03-05. Archived from the original on 2021-09-19.
  11. ^ ""Neil Gaiman You Owe Me Therapy": Good Omens Season 2 Ending Has Absolutely Wrecked Fans by Rachel Labonte, Screen Rant, July 31, 2023". Archived from the original on 2024-08-08.
  12. ^ "Good Omens fans already want season 2 to join the heartbreak romance canon by Petrana Radulovic, Polygon, July 31, 2023". Archived from the original on 2024-08-08.
  13. ^ "As painful at the end of it was, season 2 of Good Omens was amazing". Archived from the original on 2024-08-08.
  14. ^ "July 28, 2023 Tweet thread by CaspianTheGeek". Archived from the original on 2024-08-08.
  15. ^ Based on AO3 results comparing Beelzebub/Gabriel fanworks on the site using the otp:ture filter, there were 537 works before the airing of season 2, and in August 2024 there were 777


Related Links
People David Tennant • Michael Sheen • Neil Gaiman • Terry Pratchett
characters: Aziraphale • Crowley • Gabriel • The Bentley • Anathema Device
Places
Things Good Omens (book)‎
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