Slight GO3 spoilers proceed at your own risk.
okay so, I haven't heard anyone talk about this, and I think people don't know or forgot about it, and I think it really needs to be considered when talking about and looking at GO3:
The final Good Omens season was condensed into 1 episode because Neil Gaiman was accused of Sexual assault against multiple women of varying ages from 18 to early 20s.
If you didn't know- the finale of Good Omens was originally meant to be a whole freaking season. About 10 episodes. This is why it felt rushed, and underdeveloped.
During the summer of 2024 multiple people came forward saying Gaiman had SA'd them, about a year after GO2. They were all 18-early 20s while he was well into his 40s. He is a dick and we hate him.
The pre-production on GO3 had already started and was well underway when all this came out. They had already started writing GO3. They had at least what they wanted the final to be, the main points, if not a full plan for each episode.
So when it all came out they halted the production to deal with it. (I have also learned this could also be the reason dead boy detectives was cancelled, cause he had created those characters as well- not officially but could have been a contributing factor) This first, is why it took 3 years to get go3. It had been greenlight very fast, and was highly suspected to come out mid 2025.
When all this happened they were faced with a couple options:
1- cancel it. Don't produce season 3 at all and leave the fans with the final 15 with no conclusion at all.
or
2- kick Gaiman off of working on it and give the fans a 90 minute episode where they try to condense what was already planned into just one episode.
They, thankfully, went with option 2. But this meant a- no gaiman in the production. They had to figure it out on their own with what he had already created. and b- they had to condense about 10 episodes worth of content into a singular 90 minute finale.
THIS is why it felt so...off.
It was not meant to be 1 episode.
the writing and plot was rushed. I've seen complaints about Azi and Crowley not being true to their character. It felt janky and a 'this happened, then this happened, then that' format. That is why.
If you look at it objectively the finales ideas and points where good, but it was rushed.
If it had been a whole season we could have gotten more Jesus development, more development of Azi and Crowley and how they forgave each other and healed their relationship. We could have spent more time on why what god was doing was fucked up. On how Michael was going crazy. We could have spent time grieving over Whickber street and how its all fallen apart, mourned that lost instead of been swept up in the action. I mean there was never any suspense or time to think over anything. I mean think about how we figured out it was Michael. It was to quick.
Even the finale could have been fixed if there had been more time. If we had seen with in the show how having a god and the book was fucking with people, more situations like Wee Morag, where we are confronted with the unfairness of life. If given more time Jesus could have been on earth for longer and made us truly confront how fucked up the whole situation is.
Made us realize why they made the decision to get rid of it all.
This is why it sucked.
I don't think people are seeing this, because I have been seeing a lot of hate at gaiman for how it sucked, and we should be sending him hate. For hurting people, for doing what he did and then forcing the hand to condense the finale.
But-
It was good for what it was. for all these circumstances for us to get a finale that still had them together in whatever capacity, that still challenges religion, that had amazing elements, despite the pure fact it was inches away from the chopping block, its amazing we got what we did.
okay thanks for listening to my tedtalk. Come back next time for my rant about the last couple scenes and how the ending was logical and while I don't love it I don't think there's another way it could have ended (and an umbrella academy ending comparison yay!)