Amazon Prime’s Good Omens is largely very faithful to the original cult novel – that’s what you get when one of the authors adapts it for television as showrunner. However, Neil Gaiman – who penned the book with the late, great Sir Terry Pratchett – did allow himself to create new additions to the story to fill the six-episode runtime.
One of the best of these innovations is the opening half-hour of episode 3. In what must be the longest cold open in TV history, half the outing is spent exploring the development of Aziraphale and Crowley’s friendship across time, showing their regular encounters throughout human history, with scenes including ancient Rome, Arthurian times, the French revolution, the Victorian age and so on and so on.
Gaiman revealed to TV Line that this wasn’t initially something he intended to do, but when breaking down the episodes earlier on in the process, he realized he hadn’t given his lead actors Michael Sheen and David Tennant much to work with in the third installment. That’s when the solution hit him.
“When I got to Episode 3, I went, ‘Oh, Crowley and Aziraphale aren’t in this 50-page chunk,’ so I thought, ‘Well, I’ll do a mini-movie of Crowley and Aziraphale through time, and it will give Michael and David something to do.’”
Gaiman enthusiasts might realize where the inspiration for this sequence came from. The Sandman #13: “Men of Good Fortune” sports a very similar premise, in which Morpheus checks in on the immortal Hob Gadling across time. Good Omens spins the concept into something more comedic though rather than the relatively sombre Vertigo comic.
If there ever was a second season of the apocalyptic comedy-drama, a follow-up to this sequence would be a must, allowing Sheen and Tennant to dress up for other historical periods. Gaiman has warned that he has no plans for season 2 at the moment, but fans can pray (to Heaven or Hell, take your pick) that he’ll change his mind.
For now, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. But if you haven’t done so already, be sure to catch all six episodes of Good Omens on Amazon Prime.