For decades, writer Neil Gaiman has been widely regarded as one of the most unique and brilliant voices of his generation, leaving his mark in the comic book, novel, film, poetry, and even television mediums with his various projects throughout the his career. Despite the success of the writer’s work, though, Hollywood has had a difficult time bringing some of his more iconic and memorable titles to the big or small screens over the years, with some of the only successful or notable adaptations being the 2007 ‘s Stardust and the animated 2009 Coraline film.
However, there are more than a few exciting Gaiman adaptations in the works in the entertainment industry right now, with Starz’ highly-anticipated American Gods set to premiere this year from showrunner Bryan Fuller, and a Sandman movie still in the works; even though it sounds like the latter has been the victim of multiple, unfortunate hurdles and production delays throughout the past few years since it was originally announced. It looks like yet another one of Gaiman’s titles will be receiving the live-action treatment as well.
Amazon has officially announced that it will be working with Gaiman on a new, six-part miniseries adaptation of Good Omens, based on the novel of the same name written by Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. According to the announcement, Gaiman has written all six of the installments and will also serve as showrunner on the series. The miniseries is expected to premiere on the streaming service sometime in 2018. Gaiman commented on the news with the following:
“Almost 30 years ago, Terry Pratchett and I wrote the funniest novel we could about the end of the world, populated with angels and demons… Three decades later, it’s going to make it to the screen. I can’t think of anyone we’d rather make it with than BBC Studios, and I just wish Sir Terry were alive to see it.”
For those who don’t know, Good Omens is set in a world on the brink of the apocalypse. But as humanity prepares for its final judgment, a fussy angel and a fast-living demon realize they could not be less excited about the end of the world, and can’t seem to find the Antichrist. The novel was the first collaboration between Gaiman and Pratchett, which eventually led to a long-lasting friendship and partnership between the two writers before Pratchett’s unfortunate death in 2015.
Like many of Gaiman’s other titles, there has been talk of a Good Omens adaptation several times throughout the years, with acclaimed filmmaker Terry Gilliam even attached to direct a movie version of the book at one point. As most fans of the author’s work would likely agree too, it seems fair to say that a miniseries format is probably the best way to adapt the novel, as it allows for Gaiman’s and Pratchett’s world to be fully explored as it tells its story, rather than rushed over and crammed down to fit into a 2-hour runtime. The fact that Gaiman is so heavily involved in the project only makes it that much more comforting, and this just marks yet another exciting addition to Amazon’s continually growing and impressive lineup of original programming.
Good Omens will premiere on Amazon Prime in 2018.
