Good Omens' David Tenant on Mastering the Dance of Forgiveness, Crowley and Aziraphale's Relationship (Exclusive)

David Tennant and Michael Sheen return as the demon Crowley and the angel Aziraphale, respectively, in Good Omens Season 2 on Prime Video. Amazon's announcement of a second Good Omens season surprised many since the first Good Omens season, billed as a limited series, covered the entirety of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's popular novel. In interviews about the first season of the TV show, Tennant noted how much pressure there was to do the cult favorite novel justice. Speaking to ComicBook.com, Tennant discussed how that pressure has changed with Good Omens 2 telling a story that no one has read before.

"There's less pressure in that you're not recreating exactly something that has been so treasured," Tennant says. "You are telling a new story and moving into new areas with these characters. There's always the pressure when something's going well and has been admired and enjoyed, the pressure that you might break it, that it might not be quite as good the second time. The difficult second album, I suppose, is always a little bit there. But we still have Neil Gaiman, and he's had some extremely exciting writers working alongside him on this, but he's been there over every script, and so you feel confident that it's a different kind of a story. It exists in a different place and Aziraphale and Crowley are in a different place, but it's certainly in the spirit of those characters and it's in the spirit of the Neil Gaiman universe, and, most importantly also in the spirit of the Terry Pratchett universe. I think Neil manages to recreate that particular version of his voice, the one that was that world that they created together, which is quite very specific."

Good Omens' Dance of Forgiveness

The debut episode of Good Omens 2 includes a scene in which Crowley must dance as a means of asking for forgiveness. Having seen that episode, ComicBook.com had to ask Tenant what went into those moves.

"We workshopped it for weeks," Tennant says. "What can I tell you? I had to sit down with choreographers. We had to work from the ground up. It had to be a dance that was new and yet old, classical and modern all at the same time. I mean, we did have a choreographer, because there's a lot more dancing later. There's a spoiler for you. There's a lot more dancing in later episodes, not just from me, but from many other characters. So we had a choreographer on staff, as it were, and they certainly helped me to figure out what the dance of forgiveness is."

And Tennant says he hopes the dance catches on. "I hope it's recreated," he says. "I look forward to critiquing many others' take on it. But the great thing about being the creator of a series of moves is that I can define whether other people have got it right or not. So even if other people do it better than me, I will still be able to tell them that they haven't got it right. So for someone who's not a natural dancer, that's a very pleasing place to sit. There's a very pleasing summit to self-righteousness to find myself on." After we suggest he may judge dance of forgiveness contests at conventions, Tennant says, "I mean, I hadn't thought of this before now, but now it's all I can think about."

Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship in Good Omens 2

Good Omens 2 once again focuses on the relationship between Crowley and Aziraphale, this time with Jon Hamm playing the amnesiac archangel Gabriel thrown into the mix. ("An amnesiac Jon Hamm is something I would recommend to everyone," Tennant says. "I mean, having one around is immense fun.") Tennant says Corwley and Aziraphale's relationship hasn't changed much since the last time fans saw them -- it is, after all, a friendship that's already spanned centuries -- but their situation is different.

"The truth is that Aziraphale and Crowley have existed for millennia, so it would be wrong to try and reinvent them three years after we last saw them," Tennant says. "That wouldn't really make sense. I mean, they are as old as -- and I think you get to see -- we see a younger version of them at the very top of the show, which is a version of them that we haven't seen before. And there is a fair bit of netting backward and forwards in time. We visit three other moments in their history together, which will inform how their relationship has developed over the centuries."

He continues, "Obviously, their relationship is developing now that they are no longer working for their respective corporate bosses in Heaven and Hell. Their world is slightly different, and they are inevitably thrust closer together. They can operate more openly as a sort of dynamic duo this time, although describing them as a dynamic duo is clearly risible but they don't have to hide the fact that they're working together quite so much this time because of course, they're no longer in the employ of their former bosses, but they still got to hide from them. They still got to keep out of sight and of trouble, which inevitably, as you can probably imagine, they don't manage to do."

Good Omens 2 Release Date and Cast

David Tennant and Michael Sheen star in Good Omens Season 2, which also gives Jon Hamm's archangel Gabriel a more prominent role. The Good Omens TV show is a co-production of Amazon Studios and BBC Studios, written by Neil Gaiman and John Finnemore, and directed by Douglas Mackinnon.

In addition to Tennant, Sheen, and Hamm, Good Omens Season 2's ensemble cast also includes Doon Mackichan, Gloria Obianyo, Miranda Richardson, Maggie Service, Nina Sosanya, Liz Carr, Quelin Sepulveda, and Shelley Conn. Neil Gaiman is also an executive producer on Good Omens, with Caroline Skinner, Chris Sussman, Rob Wilkins, and Rod Brown. Good Omens Season 2 premieres on Prime Video on July 28th.

Editors note: This interview was conducted prior to the SAG actors' strike.