Good Omens Casts Michael Sheen & David Tennant

Screen Rant

Amazon’s Good Omens Adaptation Casts Michael Sheen & David Tennant

By Brittany Rivera

Published Aug 15, 2017

Amazon's adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's Good Omens casts David Tennant and Michael Sheen to play Crowley and Aziraphale.

Amazon and BBC have cast the lead actors who will star in the adaption of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's Good Omens. The six episode miniseries will be written by Gaiman who will also serve as the showrunner. Earlier this year, fans were treated to another adaptation of Gaiman's work with the gory and gorgeous American Gods from Starz.

Good Omens is the story about the oncoming apocalypse and the angel and demon who decide they rather like their comfortable lives on Earth and don't want the world to end just yet. These two unlikely friends team up to stop the end of the world, but things don't go quite as planned. Oh and there's baby swapping, flaming Bentleys, and a misplaced Antichrist. Basically it's a typical Gaiman story, a twisted and hilarious tale of supernatural beings who happen to also be very, very human.

According to TV Line, Good Omens has found their leading men. David Tennant of Doctor Who fame has been cast as the free-wheeling demon Crowley, while Michael Sheen from Masters of Sex is playing his angelic, somewhat fussy counterpart, Aziraphale.

Neil Gaiman Overseeing Good Omens Miniseries for Amazon

Tennant is the perfect choice to play a demon you can't help but root for. Fans who know and love him as the Tenth Doctor on Doctor Who had their allegiances tested when he played the manipulative and evil Zebediah Kilgrave in Marvel's Jessica Jones (a role which he is reprising for the show's second season). Crowley isn't really a bad guy, he just happens to be a demon whose idea of wrecking havoc is creating traffic jams. Tennant has the charisma and built in fanbase to make Crowley a character people like despite themselves. And it's always fun to see a good guy play someone a little bad.

Sheen for his part is equally well cast to play a stuffy British angel. Aziraphale likes his comforts and has a fierce love of books. He's proper and intelligent where Crowley is full of swagger and charm. It is easy to imagine Sheen as Tennant's foil, rolling his eyes while reluctantly going along with the demon's every whim. And Sheen is no pushover either, he has a commanding on screen presence that will allow him and Tennant to stand as equals who are able to go toe-to-toe on debates about humanity and the meaning of life.

Different adaptations of Good Omens have been in the works over the years without much success. Previously, director Terry Gilliam was attached to a film version with rumors of Johnny Depp as Crowley and Robin Williams as Aziraphale. Casting American actors would surely yield a very different result. One of the things that makes Gaiman and Pratchett's story is that it is quintessentially British. Casting a Welsh (Sheen) and Scottish (Tennant) actor will help the show maintain the very British tone and humor that makes Good Omens work.