Good Omens’ Final Love Letter to Fanfiction

I’ve been teaching Good Omens for years now: the 1990 fantasy novel co-written by the late Terry Pratchett and another writer, the 2019 series adaptation, the vast collection of sources both gleefully draw upon, and the fanfiction for it all. I wasn’t going to teach it again this time around—I like to change things up—but when the final season’s release coincided with my summer class in Fanfiction and Adaptation at the University of Utah, it seemed like a good plan.

And so, May 13th found me awake at 1 A.M., watching the series finale through bleary and teary eyes. Despite widespread sorrow at the glittering yet gutting conclusion for our heroes, 6,000+–year-old angel and demon Aziraphale and Crowley, I thought it was the most heartfelt and validating love letter to fanfiction I’ve seen come out of a commercial enterprise. Unfortunately, this message got tangled up with the show’s other unique ambitions: to save itself from its author—not Pratchett, the other one—and restore the Good Omens legacy to its fans.

(Note: There will be spoilers for the finale throughout this piece.)

Former beloved icon and current pariah Neil Gaiman, of course, is the co-author in question. He was also the Good Omens series head writer, showrunner, and a huge part of its brand until serious allegations of sexual misconduct against him derailed his career and the adaptations of his work then in progress. Good Omens’ finale is at such pains to erase his involvement that it feels insensitive to even mention him in its vicinity. Gaiman denies anything nonconsensual, but the allegations and the pattern of behavior they reveal—even allowing for the most generous interpretation possible—have irrevocably damaged his creative legacy, including Good Omens. With production on indefinite pause, the characters and their fans were left on a cliffhanger with little hope of resolution. Only when Gaiman exited the series and the six episodes he’d written were overhauled and condensed by other writers could the show be resurrected at all.

Like its adorable and quietly tragic Jesus, when Good Omens finally did return, the finale made a point of openly bearing and baring its scars. Like Aziraphale, it was trying to do the right thing in a flawed system. And like Crowley, it had reason to fear this might not go well for all concerned.