Good Omens: Ruining a Good Thing 

With the final season of Good Omens right around the corner, I've been reminiscing on the series and rewatching the first two seasons.

Okay, okay, talking about three seasons may look like means for disqualification, but hear me out.

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch was a book written by Sir Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman in 1990, (finally) adapted for television on 2019 by Amazon MGM Studios and BBC Studios. Originally, the show ran for it's planned one season. Six episodes of perfection, perhaps one of the best and most accurate book-to-screen adaptations made, the storyline complete and wrapped up in a neat little bow.

Season 1 follows the angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and the demon Crowley (David Tennant), who are trying to stop Armageddon by finding the Antichrist (Sam Taylor Buck) to protect their peaceful life on Earth. The cast is also joined by Adria Arjona, Jack Whitehall, Michael McKean, Miranda Richardson, and Jon Hamm, to name a few.

Season 2 came as a result of the uproar and love fans had for the series. However, because of the nature of the book, Season 1 was the complete novel. Gaiman would write Season 2 as an original story, serving as a bridge between the original novel and the planned sequel Gaiman and Pratchett had started before the latter's passing in 2015. The second season was of a vastly different feel and premise as the first season. No recurring characters, save for a few demons and angels, returned, as such it felt like watching a completely different show.

And then—the man goes and does what men do. At the end of 2024, multiple women come out and accuse Gaiman of sexual assault. Production is halted, and Gaiman leaves production. The cost? A reduction of another full 6-episode series to a singular, 90-minute episode. Curse you Neil Gaiman, you know what you did.

As much as I enjoyed Season 2 as its own thing, thinly connected to the original story as it was, and am excited for the finale, I can't help but wonder if we would have been better off leaving Good Omens as it's own, limited series. Perhaps it's because there's only the one Good Omens book, but the second season just didn't feel right.

Stylistically, the first season is already quite distinguishable from the second. God (Frances McDormand) serves as the occasional narrator, introducing our heavily connected cast of characters. In the second, the Almighty is strangely absent, and our supporting human characters don't have any relation apart from being played by actors who also appeared in Season 1 (though with no correlation). Secondly, if we were to continue the story with a second season, why not continue to follow Adam, the (maybe) no-longer son of Satan, the Antichrist? Or follow Anathema and Newt's love story? Do they last? As much as Season 1 wrapped up the story's events, the characters' journeys are left very open-ended, where a continuation could have very easily picked up from.

Simply put, Good Omens' two seasons seem weakly connected and leave much room (and a desire) for more. Word is, Season 3 is the planned storyline for the original sequel Pratchett and Gaiman had planned, so I suppose I'm still holding out the hope that the final episode will serve as the final link in the connection between the whole story.