Good Omens panel at South by Southwest: Everything you need to know

Amazon held a massive panel at South by Southwest for their upcoming fantasy series Good Omens.

For those unfamiliar with the series, it is based on the Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett co-written novel about an angel and demon who team up to stop the apocalypse when God decides it is time to throw in the towel on Earth.

The panel, titled Good Omens: A Nice And Accurate SXSW Event, was a spinoff of the novel’s full title: Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch.

The panel itself included author Neil Gaiman, stars David Tennant, Michael Sheen, and Jon Hamm, and director Douglas Mackinnon. They also showed previously unreleased clips from the upcoming series.

There was also a choir comprised of nuns who were all singing Queen songs. Seriously, you had to be there. Before we get into it, read this if you need to know what this show is about and then head back here for more info from South by Southwest.

At the Good Omens panel, Neil Gaiman talked about the series and how much it meant for him to get it right. See, he wasn’t just the co-author of the book but he was the showrunner — and he promised Pratchett it would be done right before Pratchett passed away.

Gaiman said at the panel that the hardest part was not being able to work with his friend on difficult story points or celebrate the show with Pratchett when he completed it. This is not new, as Gaiman had previously talked about how he only did this to honor Pratchett.

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Furthermore, don’t expect a second season. Gaiman already said that he isn’t interested in making any more television shows as the showrunner because it takes his time away from his true love — writing. Also, this is a self-contained story and the entire novel plays out in the one season.

Good Omens on Amazon Prime will be six episodes in length.

Composer David Arnold said at the panel that it was his favorite job to ever work on and he has worked on a number of James Bond films as well.

Fans should also expect Good Omens to have a singular design aspect as well. Gaiman wrote all six episodes and Douglas Mackinnon (Doctor Who, Sherlock) directed all six. It is rare that, even in a miniseries, one person takes on every episode as a director.

As for the stars, Michael Sheen and David Tennant seemed in love with both the series and each other.

Furthermore, Gaiman revealed that he re-wrote dialogue lines for the series and wrote Crowley’s lines for what he thought Tennant would say, rather than for what the character in the book might say.

"“It’s the only part I’ve ever played that when I think of the character, I don’t just think of the character,” Sheen revealed. “I can only think of Aziraphale with Crowley.”"

He added that he was so wrapped up in watching Tennant perform, that he would often forget his lines when it came back to him.

Jon Hamm also had a great comment in the Good Omens panel at South by Southwest.

"“The book shows that both heaven and hell are shitty places to work, just one has a better view.”"

The panel also revealed that fans should be on the lookout for Easter eggs. There are nods throughout the series to Terry Pratchett’s other works (he wrote the Discworld series) as well as to Doctor Who (director Mackinnon worked on that show and Tennant was a former Doctor).

Neil Gaiman also has a cameo in the fourth episode as a “sleeping drunk.”

Check out the Good Omens trailer here:

Add this to our list of most-anticipated TV shows of 2019 Good Omens

Posted by Show Snob on Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Here are a few of the clips that they screened at the Good Omens South by Southwest panel:

• A scene between the antichrist Adam and Anathema Device
• Gabriel visiting Aziraphale’s book store
• Crowley blasting onto the M25 freeway, which was on fire

Good Omens premieres on Amazon Prime on May 31.