The first season of Good Omens made us all collectively fall in love with Crowley and Aziraphale — so much so that fans even shipped the two characters — but the one thing missing from the funny and heartwarming fantasy series was queer romance that wasn't just subtext.
But all that changes with season two because the hit show returns with not one, but two lesbian characters!
The new season begins with David Tennant’s Crowley and Michael Sheen’s Aziraphale having been disowned by heaven and hell after averting the apocalypse at the end of season one. When we catch up with the frenemies, Aziraphale is living his best life in his London bookshop while Crowley is living out of his car (plants and all!), but all hell breaks loose when Gabriel (John Hamm) shows up on their doorstep with no memory of who he is.
Enter new character Maggie, played by Maggie Service, who owns a struggling record shop nestled in the same quaint neighborhood as Aziraphale’s shop and who has an adorable crush on Nina, the woman who runs the coffee shop across the street.
Courtesy of Prime Video
Nina, brilliantly portrayed by Nina Sosanya, is already in a relationship with a woman who appears to be controlling and even verbally abusive. While it never becomes a main plot point, Nina’s relationship shows that abuse comes in many forms and can happen within queer relationships too. “I think it’s important to show that, yeah, relationships are relationships and that queer, straight, whatever they are, you can have an unequal balance of power, I guess, in any kind of relationship,” Sosanya tells PRIDE. “And I suppose, yes, it's kind of important to show that in a queer relationship too because it’s universal. Those themes are universal. They’re not specific to any kind of relationship.”
This interview was conducted prior to the start of the SAG-AFTRA strike.
While Nina is struggling with her relationship, she and Maggie build a friendship and Maggie begins to transform from a shy, meek person to someone capable of expressing herself and even fighting alongside Crowley and Aziraphale. Service said she loved playing a character with such a dramatic character arc. “It was wonderful to have all six scripts there and be able to map that out and think physically what might change,” she said. “How you stand when you feel a bit different within yourself.”
When asked if we can expect a sapphic love story between the two characters in the future, the stars both remained mum, but Service admitted, “There’s certainly loads more story to tell.”
Courtesy of Prime Video
The first season of Good Omens was based on the Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchet book of the same name, but because there was no sequel to the hit 1999 novel and Pratchet died in 2015, Gaiman and co-writer John Finneman had to flesh out the world. “You expected it to go in one way and it’s gone round the corner and so in that sense it can turn yet another corner and, you know, all options are open I think,” Sosanya said of where she thinks the romance will end up going. “In terms of storytelling it’s rich and it can do anything.”
“But certainly the dynamic between them is just a perfect example of yin and yang, right?” Service chimed in. “It’s just delicious. It’s brilliant.”
Good Omens returns with season two on Prime Video starting on July 28, 2023.
