Among all of the premieres hitting the 2026 TV schedule, only one went through the very specific wringer that Michael Sheen and David Tennant’s Good Omens did. The fantastical comedy adaptation, which already took its story beyond the source material, was initially renewed for a third and final season all the way back in December 2023. But then a series of accusations were made against author and co-showrunner Neil Gaiman, causing the higher powers at Prime Video to scale the production back from six episodes to a single 90-minute special.
That update was possible the most disappointing of all the TV-related decisions made in 2024, albeit for understandable reasons, and it’s been a rough 18 months or so since that all went down. Thankfully, though, the finale special’s director Rachel Talalay spoke to SFX Magazine on CinemaBlend for the latest issue, and shared some details that have soothed some of my worries and sadness about losing so much screentime with Aziraphale and Crowley. Speaking to all of the story beats cut from the final product, the filmmaker says:
I was involved in taking it down to the 90. That was producer-driven to start with. There’s something really, really great about the 90 minutes. I mean, of course I’m heartbroken that bits and pieces of the six hours will not be filmed. But at 90 minutes we can just focus on one incredibly strong story. Sometimes with six parts, you just go off [on a tangent] and it’s fun, but often I hear people say, ‘You know, I didn’t like that episode as much because it wasn’t really about [the main characters].’
One of the biggest indicators that we’re living in a post-prestige TV world is the number of TV shows that, despite only being 8-10 episodes, are still weighed down by needless fluff that could have seemingly been trimmed out ahead of time. So in that respect, I am fully aligned with Rachel Talalay’s take. Not that I think there’s a conceivable possibility that even spending six hours in a single windowless room with Sheen and Tennant’s angels would be anything but heaven. But probably better as a podcast than a final season.
Article continues belowTalalay continued, pointing out that the polished-up finale has been viewed and given the thumbs up by others, as it focuses on the three core elements that the new screenwriters Michael Marshall Smith and Peter Atkins put the most focus on to close this story out. As she put it:
Now, I love those random things, but we didn’t have space for that. So it became a very much a cohesive story. People I’ve talked to who have seen the 90 minutes have said how brilliant it is that it became one really strong, cohesive story. So yes, I would have liked to have done the random bits and pieces of comedy. It’s really random bits and pieces of comedy that dropped out for a story that concentrates on those things that I talked about – a really good, strong mystery, the Second Coming, and Aziraphale and Crowley.
Indeed, as it has been teased (and anticipated since the dawn of man, or something), Good Omens Season 3 will bring about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, an idea that was conceived for use in the unwritten sequel that Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett were aiming to co-write. Rachel Talalay shared high praise for Jesus portrayer Bilal Hasna, whom she described as being a “fascinating, committed, versatile actor.” Not too shabby.
The director also had nothing but good things to say about production designer Michael Ralph, who once again takes viewers to other realms with Season 3, albeit on a smaller scale than what’s come before. Not that viewers will be able to pick up on that immediately. As Talalay shared:
Check out some of those visual splendors, as well as the bliss of Az and Crowley together again, in the official Season 3 trailer below.
Remember to get your fanciest crucifixes on hand, as Good Omens Season 3 will finally be available to stream via Amazon Prime subscription on May 13. It’s a Wednesday, and not a Sunday, so it feels like some easy marketing was lost there.
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