It’s the end of the world as we know it. Today Amazon Prime Video released the latest trailer for Good Omens, giving us some delectable tidbits of what’s to come in the End-of-Times fantasy/comedy mini-series, adapted from the 1990 novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. At the surface it seems like a battle between good and evil. Diving deeper the series has a unique twist: the “good” angel Aziraphale (played by Michael Sheen) and the dark angel Crowley (played by a cat-eyed David Tennant), join forces to prevent the Anti-Christ from bringing their world, which they together have enjoyed for more than a millennia, to an end.
The casting is fantastic and the comedic writing and timing is sinfully good. And this is gleaned just from a 2:37-minute trailer! Jon Hamm, who has proven to be as hilarious a comedic actor as he is a dramatic one, plays Archangel Gabriel with Frances McDormand in the role of God. Then Benedict Cumberbatch is added to the mix playing Satan and Brian Cox as Death.
This timely trailer is also in preparation for Amazon’s Good Omens Garden of Earthly Delights SXSW launch activation March 8 – 11 at the Driskall Hotel (604 Driskill Street, Austin, TX 78701), designed to inject some Apocalypseque magic into SXSW, seemingly at the scale of last year’s HBO Westworld and Warner Bros. Ready Player One.
Within the Garden of Earthly Delights the images from the series and the book will come to life, from a secret garden with a massive tree shooting high into the center flowing with wine and beer from its trunk to a pop-up of A.Z. Fell & Co., the bookstore featured in the series complete with “hidden surprises for lucky Good Omens fans.” For animal lovers, there will be a shelter where guests (most likely those that live in Austin) can adopt a real “Hellhound Puppy” in partnership with the Austin Animal Center. With a Westworld-ish tone of white hat, black hat, guests can enjoy their libations in either the Heavenly or the Hellish cabanas, partaking in the personal pampering area to receive manicures, hand massages, and even getting a new Sx hairdo on via hairstyling services from butterLONDON, Cosmedix and SexyHair.
This apocalyptic series theme can be seen in Netflix’s fairly recent The Umbrella Academy. Adapted from the American comic book series of the same name, it features an ensemble cast, including Ellen Page, Mary J. Blige, and Emmy Raver-Lampman, playing a dysfunctional, yet superpower clan who come back together to prevent the world from blowing up. TBS’ heavenly-infuenced Miracle Worker puts Steve Buschemi in the role of God who, like an American CEO deciding to close a manufacturing plant, he plans to destroy earth while putting Daniel Radcliffe’s character as an office worker for Heaven Inc. into the role of trying to convince their boss to let humanity live on.
In the Good Omens trailer (at 324K views as of this publishing), the Anti-Christ child, now coming into his true power as a pre-teen, is seen walking through his town with determination when his friends ask, “Adam, where are you going?” to which he replies knowingly and defiantly,
“To the end of the world. It’s not far.” Is he referencing the World’s End Pub featured in Simon Pegg’s film of the same name, perhaps? Okay, no. But given this Amazon series is co-created with the BBC does lend itself to a heavily British production in theme and tone, which is a good thing.
The Garden of Earthly Delights immersive pop-up is free and open to the public March 8th through the 11th; just look for the Good Omens large winged hourglass on Driskill Street. There’s also to invite-only Entertainment Weekly + Amazon Prime Video Party March 9th from 9:30 p.m. – 12:30 a.m. at the Driskill Hotel featuring a Queen cover band, Almost Queen, plus tattoo artists, aura readers and a life-size seesaw-like “Scale of Good and Evil.” On the 10th, Amazon keeps the festivities going with Buzzfeed, this time with live musical acts Dan Deacon, Questlove, and Hesta, also at the Driskill from 10:00 p.m. – 1:00 a.m.
For SXSW badge holders, Good Omens showrunner and author Neil Gaiman will be speaking during a Featured Session on Saturday, March 9 at the Austin Convention Center, Ballroom D, from 3:30-4:30PM. At The Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate SXSW Event fans will get to watch never-before-seen exclusive clips of the series, which officially comes to Amazon on May 31. At the event on March 9, 6:30pm —8:00pm at the Zach Theater, Neil Gaiman and series director Douglas Mackinnon will join cast members Michael Sheen, David Tennant, and Jon Hamm to discuss the series and give us a peek into what’s to come.
Check out all SXSW-related events at www.sxsw.com.
