Line #62 Trivia/GoodOmens2019


1	* ActingForTwo:
2	** 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]].
3	** 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 members of the Chattering Nuns in the first season. Reece Shearsmith, who played Creator/WilliamShakespeare in Season 1, returns as a demon named Furfur.
4	* AllStarCast: Just about everyone, even the cameos, are famous actors.
5	* AscendedFanon: Hellfire destroys angels in the same way that holy water destroys demons. This was a staple of fanfic, but never mentioned in the original book.
6	* BillingDisplacement:
7	** 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 [[Series/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]].
8	** Similarly, the fourth episode's title sequence includes cameo performer David Morrissey after his role is complete.
9	** The fifth episode's title sequence includes Johnny Vegas, who at least appears ''after'' the title sequence is complete... in a voice-only cameo role.
10	* CastTheExpert: Pat, the owner of the magic shop in the second season's 1941 flashback, is played by professional magician Peter Firman.
11	* ContentLeak: On 12 May, 2023, Creator/NeilGaiman posted to social media to warn fans of a content leak regarding season two, advising them to avoid spoilers until the series was released in July.
12	* CreatorChosenCasting: Creator/NeilGaiman insisted on having Creator/DavidTennant play Crowley.
13	* TheDanza:
14	** Enforced with Harry the rabbit, who is in fact played by a rabbit named Harry. Since rabbits breed quite fast and there was some lead time before the scene would actually be filmed, when the director explained to the animal handler what the "role" was, [[https://twitter.com/neilhimself/status/1188703566443307008 the animal handler just bred a white rabbit and named him Harry]].
15	** In the second season, Nina Sosanya and Maggie Service return as new characters Nina and Maggie.
16	* DevelopmentGag: After the second season was announced Creator/NeilGaiman began answering questions to his Tumblr about the plot with "Wait and See". This was around the time he was working on the script for the fifth episode, "The Ball", and he decided to include a nod to the running gag.
17	-->'''Aziraphale:''' Wait and see!\
18	'''Crowley:''' "Wait and see"? Do you have any idea how irritating that is?
19	* DiedDuringProduction: 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.
20	-->'''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."
21	* DisabledCharacterDisabledActor: Season 2 introduces Saraquel, an Angel who uses a wheelchair as their actress Creator/LizCarr does in real life. In scenes in Heaven, their chair floats, and on earth they are able to do miracles that make inaccessible places accessible. Notably, the character was not written with any disability in mind-- Carr was cast in AbilityOverAppearance for her pitch-perfect humor and sarcasm-- and so their use of a mobility device is treated as a complete non-issue.
22	* DuelingShows: 2019's ''Series/MiracleWorkersSeasonOne'' had a similar concept about two angels trying to stop God from ending the world, with heavy emphasis on comedy. Both shows were adapted from novels, although ''Literature/GoodOmens'' predates ''What in God's Name'' by 22 years.
23	* 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 and had to shave his beard for the second series.
24	* 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.
25	* IronyAsHeIsCast: Openly gay Creator/MarkGatiss plays the Nazi spy Mr. Harmony.
26	* {{Misblamed}}: In the leadup to season two, Nina's [=SoHo=] store was changed from a porn shop to a coffee shop. Several on Tumblr were quick to blame Amazon for "cowardice", but Neil Gaiman himself posted that between the time the book came out and the time the series came out, the porn shops in [=SoHo=] had mostly closed down due to internet porn becoming readily available.
27	* OrphanedReference:
28	** While the Hell's Angels who decide to become the ''other'' Four Horsemen ended up cut, tiny references to them remain in the series. One is near the end of second episode as passages from Agnes Nutter's prophecies flash on the screen, including one which reads "Four shalle ryde and Four shalle also ryde," though within the series, this may refer to Adam's gang riding into the airfield base on their bikes.
29	** The [[ElvisLives Elvis]] appearance is missing both its set-up and ultimate pay-off from the book, leaving it as more of a random cameo.
30	* TheOtherDarrin: Beelzebub is played by Anna Maxwell Martin in Season 1 and by Shelley Conn in Season 2, as Martin was too busy to reprise the role. This is joked about in-universe; Crowley actually asks Beelzebub if they're wearing a new face, only for them to brush it off and say they've had it for ages, while when [[spoiler:Gabriel]] questions them about it, Beelzebub simply says they got bored of having the same face for centuries.
31	* PromotedFanboy:
32	** 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).
33	** Creator/JonHamm was also a fan of the book and jumped at the chance to play the [[AdaptationalExpansion expanded]] role of ArchangelGabriel.
34	** Nina Sosanya as well. Her agent was very doubtful about asking her to play a Satanist nun, and she immediately said "Oh, Sister Mary Loquacious!"
35	** Nick Offerman literally offered to fly himself to South Africa for a handful of lines. 'I would have come twice as far for half the lines.'
36	** WebVideo/TheHillywoodShow not only make a parody video of season 1 but also participated in the promotion for season 2 with Neil Gaiman himself appearing to hand "Crowley" the basket with the DVD to be delivered to the studio execs. Maggie Service and Daniel Mays also appear in the video.
37	* QueerCharacterQueerActor: In series 2 episode 5, Mutt's Spouse is a non-binary character played by non-binary performer [[Music/TheMenThatWillNotBeBlamedForNothing Andrew O'Neill]].
38	* RealLifeRelative: Creator/DavidTennant (Crowley)'s father-in-law Creator/PeterDavison appears in "The Clue" as Job. Creator/TyTennant, David's oldest child and Peter's grandson, plays Job's oldest son in the same episode.
39	* TheRedStapler: Fans are ''quite'' enamored of Crowley's sunglasses and Aziraphale's angel-wing-handled mug.
40	* 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. Played straight with the announcement of a second series, which Gaiman has indicated will use material from said unwritten sequel.
41	* RoleReprise: Josie Lawrence played Agnes Nutter in the 2014 radio adaptation of the book, and plays her again here.
42	* RuleThirtyFourCreatorReactions: Michael Sheen is infamously supportive of Crowley/Aziraphale shippers, and has been known to retweet shippy fanart and even slashfic.
43	* SelfAdaptation: Creator/NeilGaiman, who was one of the co-authors of the original book, served as the showrunner and main writer for this series.
44	* ShipperOnDeck: No one ships Aziraphale/Crowley harder than Michael Sheen. ''No one.''
45	* TechnologyMarchesOn:
46	** Crowley's answering machine plays way too big a role to be jettisoned completely, so it's referenced as an antique he's hanging onto, and his cell phone also plays a part in the plot point.
47	** Crowley's cell phone also replaces the Bentley's car phone, so we don't get the "I bet it needs a lot of wire" joke.
48	* ThrowItIn:
49	** Shadwell's "Witchfinder [[Music/TheBeatles Sergeant Pepper]]" line was ad-libbed by Michael [=McKean=].
50	** Aziraphale and Crowley's dialogue about magic tricks was also largely ad-libbed.
51	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
52	** Creator/NeilGaiman and Creator/MichaelSheen have both stated that when they began discussing working on the show they both assumed Sheen would play Crowley. Once Gaiman actually started to write the scripts he realised that Sheen would be better suited to the role of Aziraphale. [[spoiler:Episode six gives us a glimpse of how Sheen might have played Crowley.]]
53	** The Hell's Angels bikers who decide to be sidekicks to the Horsemen were cast for the show, but due to budget issues their scenes were never filmed.
54	** 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).
55	** 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.]]
56	** 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.
57	** 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. A line from the song was eventually used as a tagline for the second season, and the song itself plays an important role in the plot of season 2.
58	** The second season was written with Sandalphon returning alongside the other angels. When Paul Chahidi turned out to be unavailable the character was dropped as he wasn't vital to the plot. Saraqael was created to fill out the ranks of the angels.
59	* WordOfGay: Downplayed, given that the series is already brimming with HomoeroticSubtext. The creators have confirmed that Aziraphale and Crowley are in love, but [[DiscountLesbians their otherworldliness]] means they don't follow our notions of relationships (or gender).
60	** [[spoiler: This trope is completely inverted as of Season 2. In addition to [[TheBigDamnKiss Aziraphale & Crowley]], we also have Maggie/Nina and [[NonHumanNonBinary Gabriel/Beelzebub]] in prominent storylines.]]
61	* WordOfGod: Well, aside from the literal InUniverse voice of God we hear. Creator/NeilGaiman has revealed some things about the series on his Tumblr. Including:
62	** In their retirement, [[https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/185614859496/hello-neil-what-do-you-think-what-does Pestilence spends a lot of time on the internet ranting about vaccines]].
63	** Concerning why demons have animals on their heads: One might as well ask "Why the animals have people shaped things beneath them to get from place to place?” - it's up to interpretation what's what and how much of it.
64	** Crowley would love watching ''Series/TheGoodPlace''.
65	** The scene where Aziraphale does the Gavotte is set at the 100 Guineas Club (a real life historic gentleman’s club for gay men).
66	** The relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley has been written as a love story from the Garden of Eden onwards.
67	*** Season 2, though, reveals that they actually met before Crowley fell (well, sauntered vaguely downwards), during the Creation.
68	** Beelzebub uses neopronouns, specifically "''Zzzzzzir''".
69	*** Though in Season 2, where they play a larger role, the dialog ended up using they / them, presumably for simplicity.
70	** ''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. This is to explain the [[ArtisticLicenseReligion religious inconsistency]] of Aziraphale, a Principality, answering to Gabriel, Michael, Uriel, and Sandalphon, despite a Principality outranking archangels.
71	** 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 the camera hadn't been invented.
72	** Metatron is not Enoch having AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence like in theology.
73	* WordOfSaintPaul: Creator/MichaelSheen said he was 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."

Context Trivia / GoodOmens2019