Good Omens Season 2 Ending Explained: How Crowley And Aziraphale's Choices Set Up A Drastically Different Season 3
Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS are ahead for all six episodes of Good Omens Season 2 on Prime Video.
The long-awaited second season of Good Omens finally arrived for Amazon Prime Video subscribers in the 2023 TV schedule, and the new batch of episodes had to tell a story beyond the pages of Neil Gaiman and the late Terry Pratchett’s original book. With Gaiman on board as a co-showrunner, executive producer, and writer, the series was in the right hands to pick up where Season 1 left off, complete with the author creating new characters for returning stars. Season 2 ended on some game-changing choices from Crowley (David Tennant) and Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) that would certainly mean a drastically different Season 3.
Unfortunately, Good Omens has not yet been renewed for a third season, and the WGA writers strike and SAG-AFTRA strike means that the stars could only promote the new episodes giving Crowley and Aziraphale everything they wanted early on. The demon and angel got more than they bargained for by the time the final credits rolled, so as the wait begins for news on Season 3, let’s look at the ending and what it means for the future!
How Good Omens Season 2 Resolved The Gabriel Mystery
The central mystery for Good Omens Season 2 concerned the Supreme Archangel Gabriel (Jon Hamm) and why he turned up on Aziraphale's doorstep naked, alone, memory-free, and with Buddy Holly’s “Everyday” stuck in his head. There were plenty of subplots that included Crowley and Aziraphale going back and forth on how to handle the amnesiac archangel, the duo trying to set two humans up to fall in love, and the demons laying siege to the bookshop to get them to “surrender the angle,” but the mystery was all about Gabriel.
As it turned out, the resolution to the mystery had nothing to do with Gabriel wanting a second try at Armageddon after Heaven and Hell were thwarted in Season 1. No, Gabriel had fallen in love with Beelzebub (played by Bridgerton’s Shelley Conn with a very different look) over the course of their clandestine meetings as representatives of Heaven and Hell, and the fly that had been buzzing around the bookshop all season contained his memories. Their story ended when they decided to run off to Alpha Centauri to be together forever, with the knowledge that they could never come back.
And that would have been a very unexpected but pretty happy ending to Season 2… if the final credits had rolled then, but the power vacuums in Heaven and Hell had to be addressed with Gabriel and Beelzebub gone, and that’s where Crowley and Aziraphale – spectacularly lacking in self-awareness even after seeing another angel and demon acknowledging their love for each other – made their game-changing decisions ahead of the reveal of what could go down in Season 3.
Aziraphale Is Taking Gabriel’s Place In Heaven
The departure of Gabriel meant that the angels had to decide who would take his place in charge of Heaven, with Michael (Doon Mackichan), Uriel (Gloria Obianyo), and Saraqael (Liz Carr) in the mix, while Muriel (Quelin Sepulveda) was clearly not in the running. The Metatron’s (Derek Jacobi) arrival put an end to their debating, as he had a different candidate in mind to run Heaven's "enormous projects" with "huge plans afoot" as the new Supreme Archangel: Aziraphale himself.
And bless his little angelic heart, Aziraphale could only see the positives of this offer and the opportunity to reshape Heaven in the way that he wanted… with Crowley by his side, as an angel again. Season 2 had revealed that the two knew each other before Crowley sauntered vaguely downward and was cursed with his snake eyes. In some truly unfortunate timing, the angel excitedly dropped the bombshell just as Crowley was ready to declare his feelings.
Crowley didn't even need a moment to think about the offer and immediately wanted to hear that Aziraphale had turned Metatron down, but Aziraphale was set on the decision, even after Crowley planted a big kiss on him in a grand (and possibly ill-advised in light of the timing) gesture. Aziraphale ended the season returning to Heaven and leaving his bookstore in the hands of Muriel, without the support of the one being who'd been around him for more than 6000 years. What would Jane Austen say?!
Crowley Is Staying On Earth
For his part, Crowley was getting a lecture from Nina (Nina Sosanya) and Maggie (Maggie Service) about his relationship with Aziraphale while the angel was getting the offer to run Heaven from Metatron. The two humans convinced him that he and Aziraphale finally needed to have a real conversation with each other, and – in possibly Crowley’s bravest move of the entire series – he immediately tried to have it as soon as the angel returned to the bookshop.
Aziraphale was too busy failing to read the room to register what Crowley was saying, and the mood turned as soon as the demon heard that Aziraphale planned to take the offer to rule Heaven and wanted to reinstate him to angel status to work by his side. Presumably motivated by more than just not wanting to wear the same kind of angel uniform that he did during his undercover mission Up with Muriel, Crowley refused flat out. He did make one last-ditch effort to convince Aziraphale to run away together and then planted a kiss on him, and only got an “I forgive you” in response.
So, as Aziraphale joined Metatron in the elevator to return to Heaven and take Gabriel’s place, Crowley returned to the Bentley, free to use his flat again with Shax (Miranda Richardson) taking over for Beelzebub, but no longer able to rely on Aziraphale on Earth. While Season 1 ended with Crowley and Aziraphale toasting the world together at the Ritz while “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” playing over the soundtrack, Season 2 ended with Crowley bitterly listening to the same song in the Bentley while Aziraphale went Up, then switching the radio off. If ever he could have used some Freddie Mercury to cheer up!
The Second Coming May Be Nigh
While the biggest game-changer of Good Omens Season 2 was undoubtedly the split between Crowley and Aziraphale, the final conversation between Metatron and Aziraphale set up what could be an epic third season. When Aziraphale asked about the projects that needed his attention in Heaven, Metatron previewed that they're working on “The Second Coming,” and there is plenty to speculate about from that tease for however long the hiatus lasts before (hopefully) Season 3!
Although the finale ended without giving any further explanation, “The Second Coming” seems most likely to refer to the second coming of Jesus Christ in the Christian faith and/or a particular poem by William Butler Yeats. In Christianity, The Second Coming is the idea that Jesus will return to Earth after his ascension to Heaven following his crucifixion, but Good Omens actually showed the crucifixion of Jesus back in Season 1. It was notable enough that both Crowley and Aziraphale were present, but neither gave any sign that there was anything particularly divine about him.
Besides, Good Omens tends to draw on stories from the Old Testament, such as Noah's Ark in Season 1 and the Trials of Job in Season 2. It seems most likely to me that a Good Omens version of The Second Coming would involve a second attempt at the apocalypse via an Antichrist, since Adam didn’t exactly work out in Season 1. That was Hell's effort, so it’s hard to guess what Heaven’s attempt would be.
The mention of “The Second Coming” could also be a nod to the poem of the same name by William Butler Yeats. Written in the aftermath of World War I, the poem involves apocalyptic imagery to go along with the line that "Surely the Second Coming is at hand." Basically, Yeats’ version of The Second Coming evokes terrifying end times more than Heaven on Earth, and that sounds like something that Good Omens would lean into... and somehow make funny.
If a second apocalypse is planned for Season 3, the bad news is that Crowley and Aziraphale aren’t on the same page. As much as their incompetence in Season 1 was entertaining enough to make my list of things I wanted to return in Season 2, that was when I assumed they’d always be on the same team!
Is The Love Story Over?
As much as a second apocalypse is a scary prospect (particularly in light of the even scarier fact that Good Omens is not yet renewed for Season 3), the biggest emotional blow of the finale was the split between Crowley and Aziraphale. Their farewell was all the more painful after they started the season as a mostly united front, even if they didn’t entirely agree about Gabriel or – on a smaller scale – how to get Nina and Maggie to fall in love. Just look at how David Tennnant and Michael Sheen described Crowley and Aziraphale’s relationship at the beginning of Season 2 to CinemaBlend, prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike:
DAVID TENNANT: "Well, they've only got each other now because they don't have their respective head offices. They are so reliant on each other, and they are the only other person who can really understand what it is to have this existence. And really, I think they're quite content with that, to an extent, and keeping their heads down is obviously the super objective to just get by. So when everything unravels, it's far from ideal."
MICHAEL SHEEN: "And of course, this third character comes along, Jim, angel Gabriel, with no memory. And so inevitably, they start to be like the parents to this errant exasperating child who shows up. And so that kind of the sense of them being in this sort of marriage is obviously made more extreme by the fact that they have to look after this strange child."
Additionally, Neil Gaiman has said many times (including on Twitter) that Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship on Good Omens’ is a love story, so if I’m confident of anything for Season 3, it’s that their love story isn’t over despite their schism at the end of Season 2. I have to take Crowley's side when it comes to the argument with Aziraphale, but surely they can resolve their fight! Gaiman just needs to channel his inner Jane Austen.
You can find all six episodes of Good Omens Season 2 streaming with an Amazon Prime subscription now, as well as the full first season, while waiting for some (hopefully good) news about the future of the series!
