Good Omens Shocker: Final Season Will Consist of One Episode, With Neil Gaiman’s Involvement Limited Following Sexual Assault Allegations
The saga of Aziraphale and Crowley will end much sooner than anyone expected.
Good Omens‘ third and final season will consist of just one, 90-minute episode, TVLine has learned. And though showrunner Neil Gaiman contributed to the episode’s writing, he will not work on the production.
Gaiman’s limited role behind the scenes comes after Tortoise Media’s Master: The Allegations Against Neil Gaiman. In the podcast, released in early July, the fantasy author was accused by a 23-year-old woman of sexually assaulting her within hours of their first meeting at his New Zealand residence, where she worked as nanny to his child. (Gaiman has said that only consensual digital penetration occurred during their three-week relationship.) A second accuser says she was 18 when she met Gaiman at a book signing, then began a relationship with him at age 20, during which she submitted to “rough and painful” sex that “she neither wanted nor enjoyed.” (Gaiman denied any unlawful behavior.)
Two more women have since come forward with their own allegations, all of which Gaiman has denied and said he is “disturbed” by.
In early September, TVLine’s sister site Deadline reported that Gaiman offered to step away from production on Season 3. Production now is slated to get going in early 2025, with Michael Sheen and David Tennant returning as the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley, respectively.
Gaiman served as sole showrunner on Good Omens since October 2023, following the departure of Douglas Mackinnon, who also served as director and executive producer in Seasons 1 and 2. (“Douglas has moved on to other projects,” Gaiman said at the time on his Bluesky page.) Weeks after Mackinnon’s exit, Good Omens was renewed for a third and final season.
The farewell run “will bring to life a serendipitous conversation from almost 35 years ago, between Neil Gaiman and the late Sir Terry Pratchett, where they mapped out ‘what happens next’ to the wonderful characters in the world of their internationally best-selling novel,” Prime Video said in announcing the series’ end.
“I’m so happy finally to be able to finish the story Terry and I plotted in 1989 and in 2006,” Gaiman said in December. “Terry was determined that if we made Good Omens for television, we could take the story all the way to the end. Season 1 was all about averting Armageddon, dangerous prophecies, and the End of the World. Season 2 was sweet and gentle, although it may have ended less joyfully than a certain Angel and Demon might have hoped. Now in Season 3, we will deal once more with the end of the world. The plans for Armageddon are going wrong. Only Crowley and Aziraphale working together can hope to put it right. And they aren’t talking.”
Gaiman also is an executive producer on Netflix’s series adaptation of his DC Comics title The Sandman. But when the streamer recently released a behind-the-scenes look at the forthcoming Season 2, Gaiman was not pictured nor mentioned in both the video and Netflix’s official preview of the show’s sophomore run.
We know you have thoughts about Good Omens‘ Season 3 episode count. Hit the comments and let us hear ’em.
Well, that sucks. I hope the give it more than an hour to resolve everything.
What. The. Hell?! Seriously they better write a masterpiece of a movie. Honestly, it feels like a slap I the face of the fans that have waited and wanted this for so long.
They’re filming in January. I don’t see how they’d have time to chop scripts for six episodes into a masterpiece. Expect a mess, hope for middling. Maybe still be disappointed.
What is the point of this? How does wrecking the show help anything?
Exactly. This is a disservice to the fans like you & me that loved the first two seasons. This deserves more than just one feature length episode.
Basically a movie wrap-up.
This is very disappointing, why not just call it “ending with a movie” I hope it’s closer to 2hrs.
Apparently, Mr. Gaiman indulged in consensual sex with three woman over the age of consent. So what has that to do with Good Omens? The show should continue on (with Mr. Gaiman). His actions outside of the show have nothing to do with the production, and continuing it is not an endorsement of his behavior.
It isn’t consensual if it’s coerced. He didn’t break the law, but he behaved incredibly unethically.
If he didn’t break the law then he’s innocent and should keep his job. It’s too easy for women to slander men.
JJ is not correct, ASSULT is being alleged, which is against the law. Again, alleged. No internet commenter can say actually whether he did or did not break a law.
And should he, though? They alleged he used his power to gain access to have coercive relationships, to assault, to go after very young women he was in power over.
SHOULD someone like that have a job that puts them in such a position of power and prestige? Doesn’t necessarily seem like a safe working environment to me. People lose jobs all the time for reasons other than “broke the law.” Film sets are places of work, and studios should be just as responsible to the “smallest” people in their employ as the big names.
It’s far too easy for men in power to slander the women they prey upon. This is well known and has been for hundreds of years, and yet somehow people FREAK OUT if they think there’s even a possibility of the opposite, that powerless women might be believed against a powerful man. Everything was fine to y’all before, but now it’s a red alert! “We’ve gotta fix things, an incredibly rich and powerful man might be in trouble!”
To be fair, of course everyone has a right to defend themselves, these things CAN be investigated and litigated…and not every allegation is going to be believable. But that’s why victims wait until there’s more than one or two, so they have a chance to speak up without ruining their lives further when they get called a liar or sued or whatever. It’s not an easy or safe thing to do, speaking up like this. But LBR, the main offered to send a LOT of money to one of these women. **He knew he did wrong.** (However much I disagree with HOW Amazon is handling this, I don’t blame them a bit for not wanting NG representing their production.)
*man.
Simply being a fan of someone doesn’t mean they inherently have power over you. And despite the podcast’s efforts to infantilize these women in their 20s and beyond, they were all adults. So at what point can someone finally be held responsible for the choices they make? It’s pathetic that NG is still trying to be the rockstar with groupies at 60, no doubt. But groupies have been around since the dawning of celebrity: people are attracted to fame and power. So with that in mind, was he supposed to read minds and question consent despite endless suggestive texts, several repeated encounters and in one case, actual weekends away with the woman?
being over the age of consent doesn’t make it consensual…
Going back for more suggests consent.
No, that’s not what’s alleged. You are making a misrepresentation of the allegations. When someone alleges “assault” and “coercion” it is by definition NOT consensual. He may be claiming that at the time he BELIEVED it was consensual, but that doesn’t mean it necessarily was so, since both people would need to have been freely consenting.
“continuing it is not an endorsement of his behavior.”
Which is it? You said you think he didn’t do anything wrong, but here you believe he’s done something that shouldn’t be “endorsed”? Feels like a bit a bit of cognitive dissonance going on.
I’ll draw your attention to the phrase: she neither wanted nor enjoyed.
Deadline is saying the “episode” will be 90 minutes. That does not seem like enough time to wrap everything up in a satisfactory manner. I hope I am wrong.
90 minutes matches the reports of the production listings I’ve seen elsewhere. Obviously, things can change in the edit. But I’m guessing Amazon is going to want this chickin-bleep move to be as cheap as possible and nobody better be filming anything extra.
What is “digital penetration”?
Fingers.
Or toes, if you wanna be technical!
I have no words. Well, I do, but we can’t forkin’ curse here. I will watch, and then I will curse.
More fans upset about their favorite show getting cut short than about Gaiman being a predator… and we wonder why the “Me Too” movement fizzled out
Maybe people can be upset about BOTH? A lot more than one person worked on this show, btw, what about their work? Amazon could have done the final season in total with exactly the same level of involvement with NG. This is not going to help the people accusing him, so….? What’s your point?
Because they can simply fire him and still give us a six episode final season with new writers! Why did the viewers have to suffer because he’s allegedly an ass?
I disagree. They have no source material to work from, so all they have is him to at least provide the details via conversations if they want to stop him writing but its still created by
It puts them in a tricky situation, but i dont believe this was the right move to cut it down like this. Its already a final season, and it is also screwing Pratchett’s legacy over. Just cut him from as much as you can to show you are responding to the allegations and let it wrap up and let the story finish properly and respect the work of Pratchett and the actors.
This is not good news, and let this be added to his list of sins.
No, it’s just we’ve all already learned about his behavior over then summer when it came out
So ridiculous. And hour and a half shoved together in a couple months? When it was supposed to be six hours? It’s going to suck. Honestly can’t expect anything else. There were a lot of fans who didn’t believe this when it was a rumor b/c it’s so unheard of to stick to a schedule with such a massive restructuring. But this “movie” is actually on the books for production January, 2025.
Amazon Prime just totally sucks for how they’ve handled this, managing to screw over the fans for no reason other than they want this out of the way fast and cheap.
I just hope Netflix does better by Sandman. I’ve never been a NG book fan, I’ve only gotten into the adaptations and spinoffs, but IMHO the Lucifer comics scripted by Mike Carey prove that other authors CAN handle his properties just fine, even if it (in the case of tv shows now) it’s just to wrap them up or hold them over until this all shakes out however it shakes out. Hopefully Sandman at least can continue or be wrapped up in a satisfying way.
And another one bites the dust. What is it with these guys? In my 60 years here I’ve seen thousands of beautiful woman that I would have liked to know better, but not once did it ever cross my mind to take what I wanted. One, it’s is a horrible thing to steal from a woman, it’s not just the sex, it’s stealing their power and sense of self worth, and really how good can it be, taking it without permission. Go home and fantasize, it’s most likely going to be better for you, definitely better for the girl, and no jail time. Money does not give anyone permission to break any laws, especially not this one!
Respect Brent, for your comment and for saying it out loud.
Without weighing in on the accusations… I was pretty underwhelmed by season 2. The budget limitations were all too obviously on display (almost entirely filmed on the single street set), and the script was not a patch on season 1. I like the actors, but I don’t feel overly invested in its continuation.
Well… this sucks but I was worried it’d get scrapped altogether, so I’ll take what I can get *sigh*
There are an amazing number of people in this thread with a really strong understanding of New Zealand law and the details of consent and assault.
True, not to mention malfunction moral compases. See who has the highest post count on an article like this, and you will find the biggest enabler.
Well it is better than nothing I suppose and 90 minutes is the equivalent of two typical tv show episodes so…. Sure would have preferred a whole season but with such starry actors at the helm there was always the risk to further seasons… Shame if the Gaiman multiple and seemingly solid allegations affected things though. The show is great.
Just one 90 minute episode? No! How are they ever going to get a whole season into one episode? I really love this show. After last season’s ending, I don’t see how they can do what they planned in just 90 minutes. I am so very disappointed.