Hi Neil. I feel we need a little boost of loveliness if you would be so kind.
So my question is this: What are your favourite things about Michael Sheen and David Tennant?
I think my favourite thing about both of them is what good people they are, and how much they care about those around them.
David: Good Omens 2 will be once more unto the breach...
Michael: The kind of world that Neil and Terry Pratchett created here. It's... it seems to be expanding out into the world in all kinds of unexpected and and truly joyful ways.
Douglas Mackinnon (the directior): If Season one was a comedy about the End of the World, Season Two is a comedy about the beginning of everything else.
Miranda Richardson (demon Shax): The Bromance is continuing.
Doon Mackichan (Archangel Michael): What a cast, is all I can say, incredible, incredible cast.
Liz Carr (angel Saraqael): But of course a script of Good Omens is a whole different thing because anything can happen.
Shelley Con (Prince of Hell Beelzebub): There's always a smirk somewhere around the corner in a Good Omens script.
Quelin Sepulveda (angel Muriel): I had no idea what to expect, where this character was gonna go...
Liz: I feel quite honored that when they were thinking of the realms of sarcasm they thought of me.
Gloria Obianyo (angel Uriel): Seven-year-old me is like, 'Oh my God! This is the stuff of dreams!'
Maggie Service (human Maggie): A whole Fantastical Universe of joy that we just get to playing and you'll get to watch.
Tim Downie (Mr Brown): I am immeasurably, immeasurably excited.
Jon Hamm (Archangel Gabriel / Jim): You know I was very pleased when when I was brought back to be a part of that story.
Neil Gaiman: Ppeople are excited and I'm working so hard to tell them absolutely nothing. I'm very lucky because Michael Sheen and David Tennant love Crowley and Aziraphale. I think the first moment that I saw David and Michael acting together... all of a sudden there was Crowley and there was Aziraphale, it was like seeing two friends who I hadn't seen for years.
David: There's something about the way Neil sees the mundane that is extraordinary and there's something about the way things filter through his imagination and of course in this world it also sprinkled with the imagination of Terry Pratchett and those two together created this cocktail that is it's unlike anything you've seen anywhere else and yet it feels utterly familiar.
Michael: And they both have a sense of the absurdity of what it is to be a human.
Rob Wilkins: When you've got David and Michael in front of the camera David and Michael evaporate and you have Crowley in Aziraphale and that relationship it needed it needed interrogating more and of course we all know that Terry and Neil had conversations about what the sequel would be and Neil has taken that and he's blown it up in a way that the viewers are just going to love so what would Terry think? Terry would pat Neil on the back and he would push Good Omens forward, he would break a bottle of champagne over its bows and be absolutely delighted and I know that, I'm the one person on Earth who's been entrusted to know that for certain and I promise you Terry would be absolutely delighted.
David: We've got some cast members coming back, returning but playing different parts which is a lovely little addition to things isn't it, so Miranda Richardson is back not playing the same role as Season One, she's now Shax, my replacement - Crowley's replacement on Earth.
Neil: Shelley Conn came in as Beelzebub and it feels in a weird way kind of like a Doctor Who Regeneration. We have a new demon called Furfur played by Rheece Shearsmith who was our Shakespeare in Season One.
David: Nina and Maggie were two of the Sisters in Season One, The nunnery of Doom, and now they are two characters imaginatively called Nina and Maggie.
Maggie: In season one really it was just me and the nuns, it was the nun gang, so to actually get to meet Aziraphale and Crowley... I hadn't been prepared for how delightful Aziraphale is.
Neil: Season Two begins about threem four years after the events of Season One.
Michael: Aziraphale and Crowley now are, you know, out on their own, they're.. they're a team to themselves.
Neil: Everything changes when Aziraphale gets an unexpected visitor.
Michael: A familiar face comes along with a mystery that needs solving and as Aziraphale and Crowley attempt to solve that mystery they realize that there are much more terrifying things ahead than they've had to deal with in the past. That involves having to go back through history as well to get clues as to what might be going on.
David: When we go back into these stories set within Aziraphale and Crowley's personal history there are moments within those stories where where their relationships sort of pivots or develops in some way. Himself and Aziraphale I think rely on each other even more in season two than they did in Season One because they are by necessity and by circumstance they're a they're a double act that nobody else can join.
Michael: It's extraordinary to see how important these characters and this story have become to a lot of people and how much people enjoy expressing themselves through art, through fan fiction.
David: I went to a Comic-Con and the amount of Crowleys and Aziraphales that I saw everywhere, the cosplaying just took off, and always in twos, which was joyous because of course the characters in my mind only exist in relation to each other. They are the Ying and the Yang.
Michael: It's such a... I think it's such a compliment and I think Neil feels the same way as well.
Maggie: Always clever Neil Gaiman, isn't he?
Nina: Yeah yeah, you'd have to sort of admit that at some point, yeah-
Maggie: He's quite good at his job.
David and Michael interview with Matt Mahler for Movieweb, 10.7.2023
Question: How do your perfomances impact each other?
David: Tthat's two difficult questions rolled into one there, isn't it. I mean, I I think that we very much enjoy working together right and I we've often said that... or certainly I feel that Crowley doesn't really exist without Aziraphale-
Michael: Likewise.
David: -and therefore any performance that one gives doesn't really exist without the other performance and that's what creates the whole, really, that's if there's a sort of heart of the show it's where these two characters meet and that's always a sort of joy and a and a thrill to play.
Michael: Yeah. I mean I love watching what David does with Crowley around the idea of someone who underneath everything on the surface there is a kind of decency and a love there and being able to see how he expresses that through a kind of a mask of Crowley I find that endlessly enjoyable and fascinating to watch and I think that's me Michael but as Aziraphale I think that's also what um what pushes Aziraphale as well so in scenes where... that are very emotional I think you're right I think in Season Two we get some incredibly emotional places and seeing what David's doing and what Crowley is doing definitely pushes me and Aziraphale into places that you would, you know, wouldn't necessarily think that that character would go to.
David: Yes. And I think the thing that sort of sums up Aziraphale and Michael does beautifully there's a sort of learned naivety there's a there's these two sort of apparently opposing to those that there's a creature who's existed for millennia who seems constantly surprised about everything ,there's a sort of a sweetness to that a sort of purity to that which is also a sort of... has a wisdom to it and the two things shouldn't really exist at the same time but there's something in that Michael captures that is just sort of that you couldn't really bottle, that is also I think what pulls Crowley in - and infuriates Crowley at the same time, but I think they are both infuriated and drawn to each other irrepressibly
Question: What does this series say about good and evil?
Michael: Well, I mean, for me what I keep rediscovering with this story and these characters is that absolutism is dangerous and that, you know, the window dressing of religions and philosophies and that kind of stuff can be the stuff that people kill for and it's the stuff that's at the heart of it which is always about loving that is, you know, that's what you need to get to, and that through the gray areas and the flaws, you know, the it's... it is our flaws that makes us aware that we need each other and that, you know, through embracing your flaws you reach out to someone else and that's what connects us and I think that ultimately is what I keep finding in this story all the time.
David: It's that good and evil are not simplistic concepts, that they all exist within within a variety of shades of gray and that what trumps all of that is meeting somewhere in the middle for some sort of tolerance and kindness and understanding I think that's the sort of at the heart of what Terry and Neil were saying, I'll be dressed up in this wonderful fantasy hilarious glorious story.
Michael: And why I think there's such a great recipe in this story where you have these huge epic apocalyptic, you know, massive backdrops and contexts and and big philosophical questions being asked but ultimately everything comes down to people being a bit rubbish of things, bit inept and you know and that's ultimately what everything keeps being reduced to and there's something sort of glorious about that.
'we get some incredibly emotional places' 👀
also: 'Aziraphale is still running bookshop, but he's also Maggie's landlord. She thinks he's the best because he lets her stay on and doesn't really mind if she doesn't make too much money.'
David and Michael interview with Caitlin Tyrrell for Screenrant, 10.7.2023
Screen Rant: I love the show and this season is incredible! And you both are just fantastic in it!
David Tennant: Oh, thank you. Michael Sheen: On, let's end there. David Tennant: That's fine. Michael Sheen: Let's quit whilst we're ahead. Davie Tennant: You've said it. We're done.
Screen Rant: What was it like collaborating with Neil Gaiman on a new original story this season versus last season's adaptation?
Michael Sheen: Well, we'd always known from the beginning of season one, that there was more story that Neil and Terry Pratchett had worked out. They just hadn't written it down, but they had sort of developed the storylines and the possibilities for the characters quite far. In fact, some of that got put into season one. So for instance, the angel Gabriel isn't in the book. So that and the angels were added to it. So we were always aware that there was more story to come, but we just thought that it was going to be the episodes of series one, and that will be it. So the idea of going further, was always a possibility because we knew that there was more, but the reality of doing another season sort of developed really. Didn't it? It sort of crept up on us. David Tennant: Yeah. But working with Neil is a joy because he's genuinely collaborative. The story is his and the scripts are his, but he enjoys kind of discussing ideas and he gets a thrill out of what everybody else brings to it in terms of design and costume and makeup. He is a sort of natural collaborator and it's such a pleasure to have him around as a resource. And also just as a fan, because he's so sort of enthusiastic about the whole experience. Michael Sheen: So I guess within the parameters of what he and Terry had already discussed and thought about, I think he very much enjoyed watching how this relationship and these characters sort of developed through series one. And was able to then marry what what he and Terry had worked out with what we were sort of bringing to the characters, I guess. So it felt very collaborative, even though it's Neal who wrote it.
Screen Rant: It's fantastic. And then how was your understanding of Crowley and Aziraphale evolved from when you first read the script, or even the book to now?
David Tennant: Well I suppose it keeps developing, doesn't it? This series gives us lots of new insights into how their relationship came to be what it is, and how they have sort of coaxed and teased each other along the millennia. So I suppose it keeps developing, but there are things that happen at the end of this season, which definitely change their relationship. And if we ever get to revisit it, again, it will be in a different place. And there will be all sorts of reckonings to be dealt with. So it's an evolving process. Michael Sheen: It's definitely deepened, I think. Thinking back to when I first read the book, when I was I think about 20 or something in the early 90s, I guess. My understanding of the book then was based on how old I was, and my understanding of life, and that has obviously changed as time has gone on. But I think as we've played the characters more and as it's gone on into the series two the complexity of what's going on with them and between them, just seems to grow and grow in a way that I find really exciting and interesting to explore and to play. And so, I hope that, that can continue, because who knows where it'll go? I think there's so much possibility with these characters.
Screen Rant: I agree. I really hope we get to season 3, because I just want so much more.
David Tennant: Thank you.
Screen Rant: And then David, you're returning to another very beloved character of yours soon. What was it like jumping back into Doctor Who after all this time?
David Tennant: It'd been a while. 15 years or so. Yeah, but I just wanted to make sure I could still run as fast, and I seem to have got away with it.
Michael Sheen and David Tennant teasing and dancing aroung THE spoiler in Good Omens Season 1 :) (watch)
Interviewer: Was there ever any interest in you playing Crowley and David playing Aziraphale?
Michael: We sort of... we tell the story, don't we, that when they do the theatrical tour of this, we'll just swap parts every night.
David: We alternate.
Interviewer: I love that. That would be so much fun. And then people would have to come twice.
Michael: Exactly.
David: Yes. You see, it's a gold mine.
Michael: And without giving any spoilers away...
David: Oh, be careful, go gently.
Michael: ...there may be, if you watch the show, at somepoint, an opportunity to see how that might work.
Interviewer: Okay, I think I know what you might mean.
David: Okay. All right. Say no more.
New York Comic Con 2018 :) (x)
Michael: I decided that early on that Aziraphale just loves Crowley, and that's difficult for him because they're on opposite sides and, you know, he doesn't agree with him on stuff. But it does really help as an actor to go, 'My objective in this scene is to not show you how much I love you.' Just gaze longingly at you, that really does help.
David: But then Crowley he absolutely loves Aziraphale, he hates that he loves him, it's really annoying for him.Yeah, so they both go through that I think.
Michael: There is a sort of wonderful love story in this, and I think it's sort of… I think a lot of fans of the book kind of like that when they think about the characters, you know, there's an interesting kind of love story going on, and it's never explicit in this, but it's there.
