History Trivia / GoodOmens2019

* TheOtherDarrin: Anna Maxwell-Martin was unavailable for the second series, leading to Beelzebub being recast with Shelley Conn taking over the role.

** Season 2 sees several actors return in different roles. Creator/MirandaRichardson, who played Madame Tracy in Season 1, returns to the cast as Shax, a demon acquaintance of Crowley. Meanwhile, Maggie Service and Nina Sosanya return to play [[TheDanza Maggie and Nina]], a pair of shop owners neighboring Aziraphale, after playing memebers of the Chattering Nuns in the first season.

* ActingForTwo: Jack Whitehall plays both Newt Pulsifer [[IdenticalGrandson and his ancestor]] Thou-shalt-not-commit-adultery Pulsifer. Miranda Richardson [[spoiler:is Tracy and Aziraphale while he's possessing her]], and both the leads [[spoiler:play each other in the finale]].

** The ''Good Omens Script Book'' features quite a few things that ultimately never made it into the final version of the show. Most notably, the theme song was originally going to be "Every Day" by Music/BuddyHolly (which would also be a reoccurring theme throughout the show itself), but this was eventually dropped in favor of the theme composed by David Arnold.

* BillingDisplacement: Like ''Series/GameOfThrones'', the title sequence only lists the main cast members who actually appear in the episode as opposed to the entire main cast. So far, so good, but the third episode's title sequence is placed about a half hour into the episode, and lists [[TheLeagueOfGentlemen Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, and Reece Shearsmith]] despite all three appearing in minor cameo roles that are over [[ProlongedPrologue by the time the title sequence begins]].

** What we see happening in Heaven is simply what our limited human brains can approximate. This was to explain why Michael has perfect photos of Aziraphale and Crowley's meetings in times when camera wasn't invented.

* NamesTheSame: When sorting through records, someone mentions a "Mr. Plinkett," which also happens to be the name of the CausticCritic character in WebVideo/RedLetterMedia videos.
** Don't confuse Crowley with the crossroads demon of the same name from Series/{{Supernatural}}.

** ''A''rchangels with a big A and ''a''rchangels with a little A are two separate things. The latter is the second-lowest rank in Heaven's hierarchy, while the former are the highest-ranking angels who answer to God Herself, being a synonym for seraphim.

* ActorAllusion:
** The scripts have great fun referencing David Tennant's past role as [[Series/DoctorWho the Tenth Doctor]].
*** There are a few scenes where Crowley is walking by a prominent police call box. The Youngs' car also has the number plate "SID RAT", or "TARDIS" in reverse.
*** David Tennant's character [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E2TheShakespeareCode is at the Globe Theatre yet again]]. Shakespeare even takes one of his lines to use in his plays.
*** When Crowley is trying to find a place in the universe to run away to, one of the possible choices is Gallifrey.
*** When Crowley drops off the baby in episode one, he's mistaken for "the doctor".
** Dagon, Lord of the Files, is voiced by comedian and presenter Nicholas Parsons. His conversation with Crowley over the Bentley's car radio interrupts an episode of ''Radio/JustAMinute'', which was presented by Parsons.

* CastingGag:
** In ''Series/AshesToAshes2008'', Daniel Mays played [[spoiler:either Satan or one of his high-ranking minions]]. Here, he plays [[spoiler:the Antichrist's (adoptive, human) father - Adam's original father being Satan]].
** Defied with Andy Hamilton as the voice of the tiny Hell's Usher; although Gaiman [[https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/185552311121 later said on his Tumblr]] that he's a fan of ''Radio/OldHarrysGame'', it wasn't a question of giving the series a ShoutOut so much as casting the voice that best embodied the character.
** In the final two episodes, the guard on the gate of the Airbase is played by Andre Nightingale, whose name is prominently displayed in the final episode's credits right as the line about a nightingale singing floats over the top of them.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: The scene in the Globe Theatre depicting Aziraphale and Crowley attending a performance of Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'', which is a massive commercial flop with only a handful of people in the audience. The original version of the scene called for a full audience, but Gaiman [[https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/neil-gaiman-good-omens-podcast-1203229927/ says]] that he noticed that it was scheduled for the last day of filming in the UK, in December 2017. It occurred to him that the scene called for hundreds of extras in Elizabethan costume, and suspected that the scheduling of the scene was a sign that it would probably get cut, and also that there would be very little daylight to shoot it, so in order to drastically reduce the budget he rethought the scene and asked director Douglas [=MacKinnon=] if he'd prefer a rehearsal of ''Hamlet'' or a flop. [=MacKinnon=] said he wanted a flop, so Gaiman rewrote the scene for just half a dozen actors and it stayed in the show.

* SelfAdaptation: Neil Gaiman, who was one of the co-authors of the original book, served as the showrunner and main writer for this series.

** It’s a small scene but in the book Crowley is the one to revive the dead dove after the magic show, whereas in the show it’s Aziraphale. It was in the script as was originally written in the book, but the director needed to change it for blocking reasons (they needed to get Crowley in the car first for the actions of the scene to play out in a way that visually made sense).

** War’s introduction originally more closely followed the one in the book. It was even shot. However, people found it confusing, necessitating that it be rewritten and reshot.

* WordOfGod: Well, aside from the literal InUniverse voice of God we hear. Neil Gaiman has revealed some things about the series on his Tumblr. Including:

* WordOfSaintPaul: Micheal Sheen said he was [[WordOfGay intentionally playing Aziraphale as being in love with Crowley]]. He believes the moment where [[spoiler:Crowley saved his books from the Nazis]] is the exact moment Aziraphale realizes the depth of his feelings for Crowley. David Tennant has also said he believes their relationship to be open to interpretation, and that "...Crowley absolutely loves Aziraphale. He hates that he loves him. It's really annoying for him."

* WordOfSaintPaul: Micheal Sheen said he was [[WordOfGay intentionally playing Aziraphale as being in love with Crowley]]. He believes the moment where [[spoiler:Crowley saved his books from the Nazis]] is the exact moment Aziraphale realizes the depth of his feelings for Crowley. David Tennant has also said he believes their relationship to be open to interpretation, and that "...Crowley absolutely loves Aziraphale. He hates that he loves him. It's really annoying for him."

** The scene where Aziraphale does the Gavotte is set at the 100 Guineas Club (a real life historic gentleman’s club/gay bar).

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Creator/TerryPratchett and Creator/NeilGaiman were working on various adaptations of their book for a long time, and then Pratchett died. [[https://fuckyeahgoodomens.tumblr.com/post/183361161379/terry-wrote-to-me-and-he-said-you-have-to-do Gaiman says]] he was probably more strict about making it a good adaptation than he might otherwise have been since he wanted to keep Pratchett's memory alive.
-->'''Gaiman:''' So I had to make the thing that he wanted, which meant it became kind of a mad passion project. The things that if it was a me-project I would've given away on, things I wouldn't have held the line on like some kind of a mad-eyed prophet. Suddenly I'm going "No, you cannot take this out. This is going to be in there. Because Terry wrote that scene and he would have wanted to see it, so it's in there." And they're like "Oh, but do you know how much money we could save if you don't actually see Agnes Nutter being blown up and arrested and dragged to the stake, we got this idea," said an early bunch of producers who later left, "that we could have woodcuts and the narrator explaining what happened. Isn't that just as good?" And I sort of mentally run that by the ghostly Terry Pratchett in the back of my head, it's like: "Terry, is that just as good?" And he's like: "Fuck 'em."

* DyeingForYourArt: Creator/DavidTennant dyed his hair red to play Crowley (the various hairstyle changes during flashbacks were done with wigs but all present-day scenes are his own hair). Creator/MichaelSheen bleached his hair to play Aziraphale.

* RefittedForSequel: Inverted. In an [[https://www.gq.com/story/neil-gaiman-interview/amp interview with GQ]], Creator/NeilGaiman said that certain elements -- like the expanded roles of some of the angels like Gabriel, Uriel and Sandalphon -- were ideas that he took from a sequel to the book that he and Creator/TerryPratchett had planned but never written.

* ActorAllusion: There are a few scenes where Crowley is walking by a prominent [[Series/DoctorWho police call box]].
** David Tennant's character [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E2TheShakespeareCode is at the Globe Theatre yet again]]. Shakespeare even takes one of his lines to use in his plays.
** When Crowley is trying to find a place in the universe to run away to, one of the possible choices is Gallifrey.
** When Crowley drops off the baby in episode one, he's mistaken for "the doctor".

* CastingGag: in ''Series/AshesToAshes2008'', Daniel Mays played [[spoiler:either Satan or one of his high-ranking minions]]. Here, he plays [[spoiler:the Antichrist's (adoptive, human) father - Adam's original father being Satan]].

* FakeBrit: New Yorker Michael Mckean plays Shadwell, almost fitting since in the book Shadwell is described as having an accent that is unplaceable beyond being vaguely British. In the series, he sounds mainly Scottish. There was some precedent to this, in the audiobook adaptation Shadwell was played by genuine Scot Clive Russell.

* PromotedFanboy: Creator/MichaelSheen has been a big fan of the book since it came out (and has hinted at a certain level of familiarity with fanfic and fanart).

** There was originally going to be another flashback scene showing Aziraphale getting ready to open his new bookshop, and heaven attempting to give him an promotion that would have taken him away from Earth, the shop and Crowley. Crowley convinces Gabriel Aziraphale needs to stay on Earth so he can “thwart” him, [[https://live-long-and-paws-purr.tumblr.com/post/185563274623/im-not-saying-that-we-were-robbed-im-just through the use of some tailor dummies]]. It was cut due to budget reasons and Neil feeling it didn't really further along Crowley and Aziraphale’s relationship as much as the other flashbacks. [[https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/185686717111/throwing-roses-into-the-abyss-can-someone-with Which were entirely cut in favor of the bookshop scene in one draft he was presented with.]]
*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x46kqU7_g1E Re-created in animatic form here.]]

* WordOfGod: Well, aside from the literal InUniverse [[IncrediblyLamePun voice of God we hear]]. Neil Gaiman has revealed some things about the series on his Tumblr. Including:

** Crowley shuts down a wireless network rather than landlines.

** Nina Sosonya as well. Her agent was very doubtful about asking her to play a Satanist nun, and she immediately said "Oh, Sister Mary Loquacious!"

* FakeBrit: New Yorker Michael Mckean plays Shadwell, almost fitting since in the book Shadwell is described as having an accent that is unplaceable beyond being vaguely British. In the series, he sounds mainly Scottish.

** The relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley has been written as a love story from the Garden of Eden onwards.