Amazon's GOOD OMENS Casts Michael Sheen & David Tennant as Leads

Get ready for the Apocalypse you already knew was coming.

Variety has revealed that the upcoming Amazon series Good Omens, based on the novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, has cast Michael Sheen and David Tennant in the lead roles of Aziraphale and Crowley, respectively.

According to the article, the six-episode series is "set in 2018 on the brink of an apocalypse as humanity prepares for a final judgment.  But Aziraphale, a somewhat fussy angel, and Crowley, a demon, aren’t enthusiastic about the end of the world, and can’t seem to find the Antichrist."

"I first read Good Omens as a teenager and it’s been one of my favorite stories ever since," said Sheen in a statement to Variety.  "To be part of the team entrusted with bringing it alive on screen is a bit of a dream come true to be honest.  To work alongside Neil, who I think is one of the greatest storytellers of all time, is incredibly exciting.  And, just like the rest of the world, I’m a huge fan of David’s so I relish trying to save it with him."

Sheen, 48, is best known as British politician Tony Blair in the films The Deal, The Queen, and The Special Relationship, and as William Mastes on the Showtime series Masters of Sex.  In addition, Sheen has appeared as the villain House in the Doctor Who episode "The Doctor's Wife", which was written by Neil Gaiman.  His other roles include Castor/Zuse in the film Tron: Legacy, Lucian in the movies Underworld and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, and as Aro in The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

Tennant, 46, is best known as The Tenth Doctor on Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures, and as the Marvel Comics supervillain Kilgrave the Purple Man on the Netflix series Jessica Jones.  His other roles include DI Alec Hardy on Broadchurch, Barty Crouch, Jr. in the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Giacomo Casanova in Casanova.

Good Omens is co-produced by BBC Studios with Narrativia, the production company of Pratchett’s daughter Rhianna, and the Blank Corporation and in association with BBC Worldwide for Amazon Prime Video and the BBC.  Gaiman, Caroline Skinner, and Chris Sussman are executive producing for BBC Studios, and Rob Wilkins and Rod Brown will executive produce for Narrativia.  Gaiman adapted all six episodes of the series and will also serve as showrunner.  Following its exclusive launch on Amazon Prime Video, the series will also be broadcast on BBC in the U.K.

Released in 1990, Good Omens is a World Fantasy Award-nominated comedic novel about the birth of the son of Satan and the coming of the End Times.  This comes as a bit of bad news to the angel Aziraphale (who was the guardian of the Eastern Gate of Eden) and the demon Crowley (who, when he was originally named Crawly, was the serpent who tempted Eve to eat the apple). As the representatives of Heaven and Hell on Earth, they have become used to living their cozy, comfortable lives and have, in a perverse way, taken a liking to humanity.  As such, since they are good friends (despite representing the polar opposites of Good and Evil), they decide to work together and keep an eye on the Antichrist. The child is destined to be the son of a prominent American diplomat stationed in Britain, and overseeing him will ensure he grows up in a way that means he can never decide between Good and Evil, thereby postponing the end of the world.

Unfortunately, Warlock, the child everyone thinks is the Anti-Christ, is in fact, a perfectly normal eleven-year-old boy.  Due to the mishandling of several infants in the hospital, the real Anti-Christ is Adam Young, a charismatic and slightly otherworldly eleven-year-old living in Lower Tadfield, Oxfordshire, an idyllic town in Britain.  Despite being the harbinger of the Apocalypse, he has lived a perfectly normal life as the son of typical English parents, and as a result has no idea of his true powers.  He has three close friends, Pepper, Wensleydale and Brian, who collectively forms a gang that is called "Them" by the adults.

As the end of the world nears, Adam blissfully and naively uses his powers, changing the world to fit things he reads in a conspiracy theory magazine, such as raising the lost continent of Atlantis and causing Little Green Men to land on earth and deliver a message of goodwill and peace.  In the meantime, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse assemble, including War (a female war correspondent), Death (who resembles his Discworld counterpart), Famine (a dietician and fast food tycoon), and Pollution (Pestilence having retired after the discovery of penicillin).  The incredibly accurate (yet so highly specific as to be useless) prophecies of Agnes Nutter, 17th-century prophetess, also rapidly coming to pass.  As the world descends into chaos, Adam attempts to split up the world between his gang. After realizing that by embracing absolute power, he will not be able to continue to grow up as a child in Lower Tadfield, Adam decides to stop the apocalypse, setting up a final resolution.

Good Omens will presumably debut on Amazon sometime in 2018.