The Good Omens novel was written by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Over the years there have been a few failed attempts to adapt the book into a film or TV series but none panned out, until recently.
The Amazon Prime mini-series, co-funded by the BBC, was the first to get the blessing of the authors. At the time it was confirmed, Pratchett was unable to write but asked Gaiman to be involved on his behalf. When he passed away shortly after making the request, Gaiman went to his funeral and then went home to start writing in order to honor his friend's last request.
The result is a series so enjoyable that everyone who has watched it wants to know more but sadly we aren’t likely to find out what happens in the futures of our protagonists for various reasons. Here are 5 things we’d all love to know and 5 reasons why we’ll likely never get that sequel.
Need To Know: Are Aziraphale and Crowley left alone for all eternity?
We leave Aziraphale and Crowley enjoying a meal together at The Ritz. While they each earnt some space from their respective bosses, thanks to a prophecy and a quick identity swap, we can’t help but think how much time they bought.
Are they left alone for the rest of eternity? Do they stay friends? Do they get closer? The unlikely bond between these two is one of our favorite parts of the show and not knowing what happens next is sad. Although it does give us room to imagine the ending of our choice for our favorite unconventional duo.
Never Get A Sequel: It Would Go Against Pratchett’s Final Wishes
After Pratchett passed away Gaiman wrote and produced the show in his memory. Gaiman has frequently said “All I wanted to do was to make something Terry would have liked,” and he stuck to this firmly.
While this series had Pratchett’s blessing, a sequel would not have. In fact, we can probably assume that trying to continue this story would have gone against Pratchett’s wishes. This is due to the fact that after he passed away all his work in progress was destroyed, as per his request.
Need To Know: What Happens To The Them When They Grow Up?
Adam and his friends, known as The Them, are just a gang of everyday regular kids, having fun, climbing trees and playing games. It just so happened that they got tangled up in this whole armageddon thing. After Adam manages to reset the clock, making his earthly father his actual father, they all have a chance to go back to their normal lives. What we’d love to know is what they do with them.
Do they recall what happened? Does it affect their future? What do they go on to do as adults? While we’re at it we’d also like to know what happened to the third baby. I just hope he did win all those awards...
Never Get A Sequel: Neil Gaiman Is Stepping Away From TV
Good Omens took a long time to produce and doing it without Pratchett has no doubt had an emotional toll on Gaiman. That’s alongside the usual stress of being so heavily involved in a project of this scale. On Twitter, he said that he was going home once the series was finished.
A later blog post confirmed that he held fast to this promise and went home to spend some time with his family. He also talks about looking forward to getting back to writing. It seems the time for TV is likely over for Gaiman, at least for the moment.
Need To Know: Does Newt Ever Find A Job?
The one thing you can say about Newton Pulsifer is that he tries. Despite being completely and utterly inept with technology he keeps trying to get (and keep) a job. Being a witchfinder is the only job he ever manages to keep but by the end of the series, he found the witch and is out of a job.
We see Newt to be diligent, hard-working and loyal. He doesn’t give up easily and would be an asset to any company, just as long as they don’t need him to touch anything electrical. We hope he finds a job that suits him, he deserves to find an enjoyable career.
Never Get A Sequel: Neil Gaiman Already Added Extra Material To The Show
At a couple of points in the series, Gaiman added some material to the show which we don’t see in the novel. This included the mammoth pre-credits sequence which charts Aziraphale and Crowley’s friendship as well as the second half of the final episode.
The extra material was added based on conversations Gaiman and Pratchett had over the years about sequels and adjustments. All the changes were made with both Gaiman and Pratchett's thoughts involved, even though Gaiman held the pen. Now that material has been used up.
Need To Know: How Does Anathema Cope Without The Book?
Anathema Device has spent her whole life training for the task of stopping Armageddon. From being a young girl she learned the accurate prophecies made by her ancestor, Agnes Nutter, and now the time has come to venture out on her own.
After destroying the follow-up prophecy book, Anathema has made the choice to live her life on her own terms. The question is, how does she cope? After a lifetime of preparing for an event, once that’s over what’s next? It’s a question we’ll never know the answer to.
Never Get A Sequel: It Was Always Intended To Be A Stand-Alone Show
The series was never intended to have a sequel. Just as the book ended up as a stand-alone, so is the series. Gaiman added a few extras at the end to keep us on our toes but there was never any intention to follow up the stories unveiled within the series.
While we still have questions about the future, the fact remains that the series does nicely tie up the main story arc and offers a glimpse of what’s to come for the protagonists. We’ll have to use our imagination to fill in the gaps.
Need To Know: Do Sgt. Shadwell and Madame Tracy live happily ever after?
After Aziraphale and Crowley, the most unexpected relationship is the one which develops between Sgt. Shadwell and Madame Tracy. You can tell that she cares for him, as her home cooking and fussing give her away but it takes a while before he warms to her.
As he faces up to his feelings you can see that he genuinely cares about her, especially as he is willing to move away to the country with her. We’d love to know what happens next but since we’ll never find out we’ll just keep imagining they live happily ever after.
Never Get A Sequel: It Wouldn’t Work
One of the biggest reasons a sequel shouldn’t happen (aside from the fact the authors don’t want it of course) is that Good Omens is an amazing story, on its own. While it would be nice to know what happens to these characters we’ve come to love, I can’t imagine another story of peril which could pull them back together in such a unique way.
Good Omens is a fantastic stand-alone novel and as much as we want a sequel in this case we need to resist that apple because this story is perfect, exactly as it is.