Featured Image Description: The Good Omens 3 announcement image, courtesy of Prime Video. Special thanks to Yan for being amazing, and hugs to all my GO oomfies who celebrated today!
Can I hear a wahoo? Good Omens has been renewed for a third and final season by Amazon Studios! Vavoom!!
Good Omens 3 will adapt the sequel to Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s original novel, which was planned by the pair but never written as a second book. In a statement announcing the renewal, Gaiman explained:
“I’m so happy finally to be able to finish the story Terry and I plotted in 1989 and in 2006. Terry was determined that if we made Good Omens for television, we could take the story all the way to the end. Season One was all about averting Armageddon, dangerous prophecies, and the End of the World. Season Two was sweet and gentle, although it may have ended less joyfully than a certain Angel and Demon might have hoped. Now in Season Three, we will deal once more with the end of the world. The plans for Armageddon are going wrong. Only Crowley and Aziraphale working together can hope to put it right. And they aren’t talking.”
The renewal was first teased by the Good Omens social media team, who created a series of playlists containing hidden messages as part of their promotional campaign for the second series. Fans had been waiting months to see the Aziraphale and Crowley playlist, which contained the message… SEASON THREE.
The renewal was announced shortly afterwards, with an episodic photograph of Crowley and Aziraphale from Good Omens 2 posted to social media. This is the news that thousands of fans across the world have spent years hoping for, and there are already a huge number of theories about how Good Omens 3 will play out. So, in celebration of the renewal confirmation, let’s dive into a few of the most popular ones with the new plot information in mind!
The South Downs Cottage, and the Garden Ending
One thing in particular which is on everyone’s mind right now is the South Downs Cottage. This is less a fan theory and more an actual confirmed plot point. It was first mentioned by Neil Gaiman in June 2005, when the author made a blog post stating:
“Terry Pratchett and I were talking about Crowley and Aziraphale over dinner the other night and wondering what they’d been up to (“…on the South Downs? You really think so?”). It was very pleasant, honestly, like catching up with news of old friends.”
Tumblr user irisbleufic then asked Gaiman at an event what the angel and demon were doing in the South Downs, to which he added that they were “sharing a cottage”. This has since been brought up numerous times over the years, and Gaiman clarified in 2020 that Aziraphale and Crowley sharing the cottage is what happens after the main plot of the sequel concludes. This is canonically what the pair are now doing in the book universe, but it hasn’t happened “yet” in the TV universe. It seems that is now set to change!
Hints and references to the South Downs Cottage have already been hidden in the first two seasons of Good Omens as Easter eggs, and with the third season now confirmed it is very likely that we will get to see this play out on screen. The planned ending to the story has become integral to the overall arcs of Crowley and Aziraphale, and this was something I touched on in my essay about the series.
The series is based on the conversations Gaiman and Pratchett had about the sequel, so Good Omens 3 will almost certainly conclude the way that the pair originally intended. Gaiman has explained that he wrote the final fifteen pages of Good Omens S3E6 well in advance “in case [he got] hit by a bus” – the final minutes of the series being meticulously planned and set in stone seems to confirm that the South Downs Cottage is definitely the direction the ending is headed:
“Terry and I plotted it in Seattle in 1989, and then plotted more of it in New York in 2006 when we were sitting together at the Audie Awards, and then talked more about it from time to time until Terry’s death… I know what happens, sometimes in detail sometimes in broad strokes, and I know the last ten minutes of it to the beat.” – Neil Gaiman via Tumblr, June 8th 2023
Some fans also believe this could contribute to the “Garden Ending”, another popular fan theory. In season one of the series, God states that the story “will start, as it will end, with a garden”. This references the opening scene being set in the Garden of Eden, and Crowley’s comment of “time to leave the garden” before he invites Aziraphale for lunch in S1E6 (as well as the scene of Adam taking the apple). However, some fans also believe that this will play out across the whole story, with season one opening with Aziraphale and Crowley in the Garden of Eden and season three concluding in the garden of their cottage. Whether this specifically happens or not, it is almost guaranteed that Good Omens 3 will be taking us to the South Downs, twenty years after the book did.
The return to 1941
One of the most popular fan theories is that Good Omens 3 will show the supposed “final part” of the 1941 sequence. The progression of Aziraphale and Crowley’s relationship in 1941 was first explored in season one of Good Omens, during the S1E3 Cold Open: Crowley rescues Aziraphale (more on this later) and saves his books from being blown up in the famous ‘Lift Home?’ scene. This is also the moment where Aziraphale realises he is in love with Crowley.
The sequence was then continued in S2E4 (as the only flashback from season one to return for season two), which sees Aziraphale accept the “lift home” and perform at the Windmill Theatre alongside Crowley. It concludes with the pair having drinks in the bookshop together, leaving plenty space for a potential third scene which shows more of their conversation.
In S2E1 Aziraphale comments that he did the “apology dance” in 1941, which left fans wondering what happened after their drinks for this to be necessary. It’s possible that this was simply in relation to Aziraphale and Crowley’s magic trick which ended up risking their lives, or the fact that Aziraphale needed rescuing from the church in the first place, but we still do not see any apology take place on screen or the conclusion of their evening together. Gaiman seemed to suggest on Bluesky that Good Omens 3 may not contain any long minisodes due to the structure being similar to that of the first season, but this may mean that another cold open is on the cards instead. I think it is very unlikely that Good Omens 3 will not feature a number of flashbacks, as this is one of the main strengths of the series. 1941 would be a logical year to return to, given that there is already a hint of something else happening during that evening, and it could also help to explain why Aziraphale later seems hesitant to further his relationship with Crowley in the 1967 scene. There seems to be a significant shift in Aziraphale’s eagerness to pursue a relationship with Crowley between these two time periods, and this may be something the third series explains. Even if this is not touched on, 1941 was still a very pivotal year for Aziraphale and Crowley’s relationship, and featuring more of what happened that night may help to frame the present day plot.
The Second Coming, and other known plot details from the sequel
It has already been confirmed that Good Omens 3 will feature the Second Coming of Christ, and there have been a number of theories as to how exactly this might play out. We already know that the sequel planned to have Jesus come down to Earth in a silver plane, something which was referenced in the Good Omens 2 opening credits.
The exact details of the plot of Good Omens 3 are still unclear but it seems highly likely that the Second Coming is going to be the main driver of the story. Gaiman and Pratchett discussed Aziraphale and Crowley, as well as Jesus, travelling through America, but not much is known as to what exactly they were doing or supposed to be doing there. There is also the running joke of Aziraphale watching a… film… in a hotel in the sequel, but Gaiman commented more recently that he was unsure whether the joke would make it into the third season in its original form as it will now be set in the mid-2020s and not the 1980s. The other main known plot detail is the South Downs Cottage, which I discussed above.
Yan (MJJoyceCrowley) has an excellent thread on a potential storyline for season three, which combines the details of the plot that we already know with the basic premise and key themes of Good Omens as a whole:
Aziraphale and Crowley reunited (or rescued?)
After the heartbreaking finale of Good Omens 2, one of the major moments of the third season is bound to be the reunion of Aziraphale and Crowley. The final fifteen minutes of the series (helpfully dubbed by fans as “The Final Fifteen”) were perhaps the most significant of their millennia-long relationship so far. As Gaiman explained on Tumblr in August 2023, nobody can deny or ignore that “we are now in a world in which [their kiss] happened”, and things are bound to be different going forward.
At this stage it is very unclear when in the story they could reunite, and how the angel and demon are going to react to seeing each other again. There are a number of theories, but the press release does confirm one crucial thing which now rules out several options: Aziraphale and Crowley are not talking to each other.
There was some fan discussion as to whether or not Aziraphale might try to contact Crowley from Heaven in order to maintain their relationship or to convince him to join him as an angel again, but this now seems off the table. This ties in to the “Aziraphale rescues Crowley” theory. A fan-favourite moment from Good Omens 2 was Aziraphale stating that Crowley enjoyed rescuing him and coming up with plans to save them both, and many fans thought this would be paralleled by him doing the rescuing in the third season.
Crowley accepted Aziraphale’s return to Heaven as a rejection, and now does not seem to be making any effort to get back in touch with him. It does not seem likely that Crowley would be eager to help Aziraphale, or even be in a position where he would be aware of anything going awry, so it is unlikely he is going to be playing the role of the rescuer.
I would imagine Crowley is feeling one of two things: either, that his relationship with Aziraphale is over and he will continue his life without him unless he returns and makes a grovelling apology, or that he is certain Aziraphale will return and is smugly (and miserably?) biding his time waiting for the day Aziraphale comes back and admits that he was wrong and Crowley was right all along. I personally think the second scenario is more likely – we know Crowley is an optimist, and that he firmly believes Heaven will never change. He also thinks Aziraphale is highly intelligent, but relies far too much on Heaven’s moral framework which causes him to make stupid decisions (in Crowley’s eyes). I think there is a good chance we will see Crowley believing that Aziraphale will return to him with his tail between his legs once he figures out that he cannot change Heaven. Therefore, Crowley will reflect the rejection he feels and his confidence in Heaven being unfixable by cutting all contact with Aziraphale, likely thinking that this will make the angel miss him and their life together much more and want to come back to Earth. However, Aziraphale is also feeling betrayed and apparently not trying to initiate contact either, so this is probably not actually the reaction Crowley is going to get, at least for a while.
It seems very likely that Aziraphale is going to need to be the one to reach out to Crowley, and this could play into the idea of him doing the rescuing for a change. If Aziraphale is also still convinced that he is in the right and is also smugly waiting for Crowley to come to him, then the plot will be the thing which forces them back together. This suggests that they will be forced to work together for plot reasons, and thus reunited, pretty early on in the series, but it will take them longer to recover emotionally from what happened in The Final Fifteen – they will be back together but not back Together. Of course I am reading into the press release a fair bit, but this does seem like the most likely scenario based on the two things we now know for sure: 1) Crowley and Aziraphale will need to work together pretty much from the get-go, for plot reasons and 2) they have both stopped talking to each other. It would be interesting to see how they work to solve the issues which arise in the plot while tackling the new state of their relationship.
Rainstorms and Nightingales
The idea of sheltering underneath a canopy was used in both the opening scenes from Good Omens 1 and 2, where Crowley and Aziraphale cover each other with their wings.
Crowley then brings this up in S2E2 when concocting his plan to get Nina and Maggie to fall in love with each other:
CROWLEY: You mean like a sudden rainstorm forces them together beneath a canopy? They look into each other’s eyes… and realise they were made for each other?
AZIRAPHALE: Sounds a bit unlikely.
CROWLEY: No, no no. No. No. Get humans wet and staring into each other’s eyes, vavoom, sorted.
Much of the fandom agrees that there is more to be explored with this and Good Omens 3 will allude to it in some way by having a major scene of the final series set in the rain. Crowley claims his plan was based on a Richard Curtis film but it seems too relevant to their own love story to be a coincidence. After all, Aziraphale’s suggestion of a Jane Austen-style ball to help Maggie and Nina was really a plan for him and Crowley. The pair are both inspired by pieces of media and use human beings as a way of understanding what it is to be in love – Crowley had planned his confession in S2E6 to be much more romantic than it turned out to be (thanks Metatron), and so bringing this idea full circle and letting it play out in Good Omens 3 would give them both the moment they had dreamed of.
In a similar vein, there will almost certainly be another reference to nightingales in Good Omens 3. The bird singing in Berkeley Square was where we left Aziraphale and Crowley in the book and in season one, and it was then brought up in The Final Fifteen just before the kiss. Crowley commented that there were “no nightingales” singing now that Aziraphale was planning to leave him. It seems highly likely that this will be referenced again, perhaps when the pair reunite or when they get their happy ending.
Crowley’s Fall and The Great War
Finally, there are theories that Good Omens 3 could open with Crowley’s Fall from Heaven. Personally, I was really surprised by the decision to show the two of them before the beginning in the opening scene of season two, but in the context of the finale it made a lot of sense – Aziraphale was partly motivated by a want to see Crowley filled with the joy he displayed as an angel, and we needed to see that in order to understand it. We may return to Heaven pre-Eden and witness Crowley’s exile or the war between the two sides in Good Omens 3. This could happen in order to show the audience why Crowley cannot accept returning to Heaven and being restored to an angel. It might also provide more context for their relationship if Aziraphale is present when he falls, or show more about why Aziraphale believes Heaven is the right option so firmly.
There are a huge number of fan theories and popular wishes I haven’t even begun to cover, like Long Hair Crowley, Aziracrow Hug, the 21 ‘Angels’ theory, the Sunset Ending, They Like Holding Hands and the “I forgive you” *kiss* parallel. There are also questions about how exactly the Book of Life is going to play into Good Omens 3 – many fans feel it was a ‘Chekhov’s Gun’ which was placed into the second series as foreshadowing. The same is felt about Aziraphale and Crowley’s ability to perform combined miracles, which are exceptionally powerful despite them intending the exact opposite in S2E1. We know that some elements of the third season were added into the first, namely the existence of the archangels and Beelzebub, so it is likely this will also play a key role in the plot of season three. The roles of Heaven and Hell are clearly going to be crucial going forward, and it will be interesting to see if the fan assumption that Aziraphale will attempt to unite them comes to fruition.
So… Good Omens is getting the finale it deserves! What do you hope will feature in the third season?
All episodes of Good Omens seasons one and two are streaming now on Prime Video.
swirlywords 
Leave a comment