Jon Hamm joins TV adaptation of ‘Good Omens’ as the Archangel Gabriel
I know pretty much nothing about Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett‘s novel Good Omens. Other than, well, it’s probably good. Oh! And now, that its adaptation has gained one Jon Hamm.
/Film:
Jon Hamm may look like an angel and now he finally gets to play one in the Amazon fantasy series, Good Omens.
Jon Hamm joins Good Omens to play the archangel Gabriel in Neil Gaiman‘s miniseries adaptation of his and Terry Pratchett‘s 1990 apocalyptic novel. While Gabriel, who acts as God’s messenger, appeared only briefly in the book, Gaiman is expanding the role for the miniseries now that Hamm has been cast.
Gabriel appears midway through the book to deliver a message to Michael Sheen‘s dawdling Aziraphale, the angel who has allied himself with David Tennant‘s demon Crowley to stop the Apocalypse. It’s a fleeting cameo that has been expanded into a full-time role thanks to Gaiman and the high-profile casting of Hamm, according to Variety. Gaiman said of Hamm’s casting:
“The leader of these angels is Gabriel. He is everything that Aziraphale isn’t: he’s tall, good-looking, charismatic and impeccably dressed. We were fortunate that Jon Hamm was available, given that he is already all of these things without even having to act. We were even more fortunate that he’s a fan of the books and a remarkable actor.”
The Baby Driver actor was a longtime fan of the comedic fantasy novel, but confessed that he thought the story was impossible to film. He was right in some regards — Good Omens may be impossible to make into a movie, but it’s shaping up to be a stellar miniseries. Hamm said:
“I read ‘Good Omens’ almost 20 years ago. I thought it was one of the funniest, coolest books I’d ever read. It was also, obviously, unfilmable. Two months ago Neil sent me the scripts, and I knew I had to be in it.”
Even if the pitch-perfect casting of Hamm hadn’t taken place, Gaiman — who is writing and adapting the series himself with the late Pratchett’s blessing — said he had been planning to lobby for giving the angels more of a presence in the screen adaptation. And before Pratchett passed away in 2015, the two of them had even discussed writing a Good Omens sequel.