Amazon Studios has ordered a limited series based on "Good Omens," the acclaimed 1990 fantasy novel written by Neil Gaiman and the late Terry Pratchett.
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Targeted to debut in 2018 on Prime Video, the six-episode adaptation will be written by Gaiman, who will also serve as showrunner. BBC Studios is co-producing the series with Narrativia and The Blank Corporation and in association with BBC Worldwide for Amazon Prime Video and the BBC.
“Good Omens” or, more fully, “Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch,” is a comedic take of the coming of the apocalypse. It centers on the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley, who attempt to short-circuit the End Times, and the Antichrist who, because of a mixup at the hospital, is a seemingly normal boy raised by English parents.
Although Gaiman had previously declined to adapt the novel for television, he announced in April 2016 that Pratchett had left a letter posthumously giving his blessing. Best known for his "Discworld" series of fantasy novels, Pratchett passed away in March 2015 following a lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
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“Almost thirty years ago, Terry Pratchett and I wrote the funniest novel we could about the end of the world, populated with angels and demons, not to mention an eleven-year-old Antichrist, witchfinders and the four horsepeople of the Apocalypse," Gaiman said in a statement. "It became many people’s favourite book. 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.”
Terry Gilliam had hoped to adapt “Good Omens” for the big screen as far back as 2002, and in 2011 it was announced Terry Jones and Terry Jones would instead produce a television version. Of course, neither of those materialized. BBC Radio 4 did at last adapt the novel in 2014, with Gaiman and Pratchett appearing in cameos.