The days are counting down until Good Omens returns to Prime Video with new episodes for the first time since 2019. Season 2 brings back Michael Sheen as the angel Aziraphale and David Tennant as the demon Crowley, although this time the show will pick up with them dealing with semi-retirement instead of a looming armageddon. The two stars spoke with CinemaBlend about how their characters have coped with the freedom they gained to be together on Earth at the end of Season 1… and the problems on the way with naked Gabriel, a.k.a. Jon Hamm.
Season 2 will arrive for Amazon Prime subscribers in the 2023 TV schedule on Friday, July 28. When fans last saw Crowley and Aziraphale in Season 1, the demon and angel were celebrating their liberty from Heaven and Hell (as well as averting the apocalypse) over drinks at the Ritz. When speaking with the stars (prior to the SAG strike) about how Season 2 picks up with their characters, I asked how angelic/demonic retirement works, and it turns out that old habits die hard. Michael Sheen previewed:
Aziraphale I think finds it very difficult, even though he sort of got everything he wanted. I think he very much enjoyed having the company behind him, having that structure. He's not comfortable being out on his own, even though he now gets to do everything which he want[s] to do. Stay on Earth, be in his bookshop, have nice meals, go out to shows, and be around this one. [gestures to David Tennant]
Aziraphale is still able to do everything that made him want to save the world in the first place back in Season 1, but he can’t count on Gabriel or Michael or any of the other angels anymore. For all that Crowley has a place on Michael Sheen’s list of what Aziraphale wanted, he’s not exactly an angelic ally who will provide some structure! In fact, David Tennant shared that Crowley is facing the same conundrum with his old ties to Hell, saying:
Crowley always claimed that he found working for Hell to be tedious and difficult and was doing everything he could to avoid it. And yet, now he's got this liberty, the first thing we see him doing in Series 2 is catching up with the old team on a park bench and figuring out what his replacement is doing and trying to get some intel on what's going on. So clearly, it's not something they're able to leave behind as easily as they might have imagined they would. And then, of course, very quickly, they're plunged back into the middle of Heaven and Hell's political machinations straight away.
The political machinations of Season 2 may not involve trying to end the world like what happened in Season 1, but the archangel Gabriel disappearing from Heaven and then turning up at Aziraphale’s door with no memory is bound to cause trouble with both sides. The Good Omens Season 2 trailer also revealed that amnesiac Gabriel involves naked Jon Hamm, with the actor covered by nothing but a blanket for at least one scene in the bookshop.
When I noted to Michael Sheen and David Tennant that being pulled back into Heaven and Hell’s messes seems to involve some naked Jon Hamm, Sheen responded:
Naked Jon Hamm! Plunged very much into naked Jon Hamm.
Gabriel was a big fan of human clothes back in Season 1, which could make it all the funnier that he apparently isn’t wearing anything when he pays Aziraphale a visit. No memory and no clothes, but plenty of mystery! The trailer shows that Crowley at least will be very (and hilariously) alarmed at finding the archangel in the bookshop. Take a look at the footage:
Crowley yelping and jumping backwards at seeing Gabriel is both a great gag and a throwback to what happened the last time that he encountered the archangel. At the time, Crowley was disguised as Aziraphale in Heaven, and Gabriel told him to “shut your stupid mouth and die already” in some hellfire. Of course, Gabriel himself presumably doesn’t remember that or anything else that happened in Season 1 that Season 2 could bring back!
Fortunately, the wait for new episodes is nearly over. All six episodes of Good Omens Season 2 will release on Prime Video on Friday, July 28. You can also revisit the first season streaming now!
