By Ben Wright (@Iamzavagno | www.xgeeks.co.uk)
This review is spoiler-free.
After the devastating ending of Good Omens Season 2, and all the controversy and uncertainty that followed behind the scenes, it honestly started to feel like the writing was on the wall for the series. Once the news broke that key creatives were no longer attached, and that the planned third season had been reshaped into a single 90-minute special instead, expectations understandably shifted a little. You could not help but wonder whether this would feel like a proper ending, or just a rushed attempt to tie everything together.
Honestly, the reduced runtime really does hurt it. There is still a big story here, involving looming celestial chaos, unresolved emotional fallout, and the fate of relationships fans have spent years investing in, but trying to squeeze all of that into a feature-length special means some of the bigger moments never properly land. There are scenes clearly aiming for that huge emotional or world-ending feeling, but before they can fully settle in, the story is already moving on to the next thing.
That said, what keeps the whole thing working is the cast, especially David Tennant and Michael Sheen. Their chemistry has always been the real heart of the show, and even when parts of the plot feel compressed or slightly undercooked, the two of them still make it incredibly easy to stay invested. Realistically, Crowley and Aziraphale are why most people are here, and thankfully, the performances still deliver exactly what fans would want from this final chapter.
You can tell both actors still have a huge amount of affection for these characters, too. Even the quieter scenes between them have that warmth and history the show has always done so well. Some of the best moments in the special are not the big fantasy set-pieces or apocalyptic stakes at all; it is simply Tennant and Sheen bouncing off each other again.
A lot of the returning supporting cast still bring that familiar charm as well. Doon Mackichan, Gloria Obianyo, Paul Chahidi, and Liz Carr all slip back into the heavenly chaos nicely, bringing plenty of that smug angel energy the series has always had fun with. Quelin Sepulveda’s return was also genuinely nice to see, even if, like a lot of the secondary characters, they do end up getting pushed through scenes a little too quickly because there just is not enough time for everyone to properly breathe.
The newer additions, including Tanya Moodie, Bilal Hasna, and Toby Jones, fit into the world well enough, too. It is still a very strong cast overall, and honestly, they help smooth over quite a few of the pacing issues whenever things start moving too quickly.
And that pacing really is the biggest issue throughout. The special still feels like Good Omens. The whimsy is still there, the oddball humour still works, and there are flashes of the magic that made the earlier seasons so loved in the first place. But everything moves just a bit too fast. Big emotional moments barely get a chance to sit before the story rushes off somewhere else, and there are definitely plot points that feel like they needed another episode or two around them.
It never becomes bad, not even close, and importantly, it does not damage the legacy of the show either. If anything, it is more frustrating because you can clearly see the stronger version of this story underneath it all. There is enough here to satisfy fans emotionally, especially if you are heavily invested in Crowley and Aziraphale, but it also leaves behind that lingering feeling of what this could have been if it had been given more room to breathe.
In the end, Good Omens 3 leans heavily on David Tennant and Michael Sheen to bring the series home, and thankfully, both are more than capable of doing exactly that. The shorter runtime stops the story from fully reaching the emotional and epic heights it clearly wanted to hit, and while this is not quite the big finale many fans probably imagined, there is still enough charm, heart, humour, and chemistry here to make it a worthwhile farewell, even if you cannot help wishing we had seen the fuller version of what this story was originally meant to be.
X-Geeks 