Good Omens Season 2 Leak That Left Neil Gaiman "Heartbroken", Explained
The writer says he's 'f***ing furious.'
Anything with David Tennant and/or Michael Sheen in has to be worth a watch. And the first season of Good Omens, starring Tennant as demon Crowley and Sheen as angel Aziraphale was pretty well received.
A second season (available on Amazon Prime on 28 July) was inevitable. However, season 2 has no source material as everything from Terry Pratchett's original novel of the same name was covered in the first season.
Gaiman has said, though, that he and Pratchett spoke about a sequel prior to the author's death in 2015. So, Pratchett retains some influence over the sequence of events in Good Omens season 2. But the story has never been published. Which, in theory, means nobody outside of the production team knows what's going to happen.
The official trailer for the upcoming season, of course, teases certain elements of the story with a view to intriguing viewers and piquing their interest. Gaiman has no problem with this. It's part of standard promo efforts and is to be expected.
In it, we see a hint that there may be a bit more than just an unexpected friendship between Crowley and Aziraphale.
Now, this is where Gaiman has an issue. Crowley and Aziraphale have a large and passionate fanbase of shippers who refer to the couple as 'ineffable husbands' and produce fanfiction and art that conveys a romance between them.
In and of itself, that's not particularly unusual. There's even a nod to the shippers in the official trailer. Gabriel (played by Jon Hamm) says to Aziraphale 'You know what it's like when…you're totally certain that everything would be better if you were just near one particular person' while there is a cut to Crowley and Aziraphale clinking their wine glasses together.
Aziraphale's response is an unconvincing, 'No. Certainly not.' Like I said, just a hint.
But another promo that was leaked on social media (and subsequently deleted) is said to show the couple sharing a kiss. And this is what has left Neil Gaiman 'heartbroken'. In a blog post, he advised any fans who want to 'remain GO2 unspoiled' to avoid the internet until 28 July.
Addressing the issue on Twitter, he was more succinct, simply posting:
Avoiding spoilers is becoming increasingly difficult – particularly with so much personalised content being presented to us every day. But it's easy to see why creators get so frustrated when their work is leaked and fans find out what's going to happen in a show before it's even out.
But staying away from the internet for 6 weeks?
I'm not sure Gaiman is going to convince too many fans to do that.
Source: Tumblr.