Even though the cast for his TV adaptation of Good Omens is already pretty damn great, Neil Gaiman is adding one more solid name to the line-up. Jon Hamm is that name.
Omens, of course, is based on the beloved novel co-written by Gaiman and the late, great Terry Pratchett. Combining the best of both Pratchett and Gaiman's writing styles, the tome is by turns dark, philosophical and barkingly funny. Angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and demon Crowley (David Tennant) have grown rather fond of Earth and are thusly annoyed to discover that the Antichrist is going to show up and bring it to an end.
Hamm will pop up as the archangel Gabriel, AKA the main messenger of God. Despite having a relatively brief role in the book, his character will have more scope across the planned six episodes, and Gaiman has explained why: "Once we had finished writing Good Omens, back in the dawn of prehistory, Terry Pratchett and I started plotting a sequel. There would have been a lot of angels in the sequel. When Good Omens was first published and was snapped up for the first time by Hollywood, Terry and I took joy in introducing our angels into the plot of a movie that was never made. So when, almost thirty years later, I started writing Good Omens for TV, one thing I knew was that our angels would have to be in there.
"The leader of these angels is Gabriel. He is everything that Aziraphale isn’t: he’s tall, good-looking, charismatic and impeccably dressed. We were fortunate that Jon Hamm was available, given that he is already all of these things without even having to act. We were even more fortunate that he’s a fan of the books and a remarkable actor."
Turns out he really is a fan... "I read Good Omens almost twenty years ago," says Hamm. "I thought it was one of the funniest, coolest books I’d ever read. It was also, obviously, unfilmable. Two months ago Neil sent me the scripts, and I knew I had to be in it."
With Michael McKean, Miranda Richardson, Jack Whitehall and Jasmine Hyde also among the cast, Good Omens will hit Amazon Prime Video worldwide in 2019, followed by a run on BBC Two.
Michael Sheen And David Tennant Starring In Good Omens TV Adaptation
Michael McKean, Miranda Richardson And Jack Whitehall Join Good Omens