Good Omens 2 concept art masterpost
Unlike my previous pieces analysing individual cut scenes based on the available concept arts of never filmed historical minisodes, this post will delve deeper into the original structure of S2 â weâre going to see what other scenes were cut and which set elements were omitted or changed, and therefore what the overarching themes and potentially important parts of the story might be.
The following artworks were published by Louis Ralph, John McCarthy, and Good Omens X-Ray on Amazon Prime, and show early versions of the showâs environments and storylines.
Jon Coffee and Vinyl Fetish
The more detail-oriented viewers are already well aware of the changes in Aziraphaleâs neighbourhood that took place between the first and second season of the show, but for the othersâ sake, letâs review them again:
As Michael Ralph, production designer for the series, explained in his DVD commentary for episode 4:
âThere was a beautiful coffee shop that we built across from the bookshop. We called it âJon Coffeeâ after [John Coffey in] The Green Mile âcause Iâve always loved that. Donât wanna get sued for that, but I spelled it with a J-O-N, not a J-O-H-N. âCourse, I donât think anyoneâll ever see that or understand it either â but they might now!â
And according to the official Whickber Street lore:
âGive me Coffee bought Jon Coffee in 2019 and expanded into Honey Sweets in 2021.â
But, interestingly, this change hasnât happened at the concept art stage yet, as we can see in Louis Ralphâs works below. On the other hand, apart from its name, the record shop hasnât changed much â we can even see Maggie Service behind the counter.
Michael Ralphâs paraphrase of The Green Mileâs iconic characterâs name took on a new, quite literal meaning after being implemented in the S2 iteration of the Soho set. Jon is, after all, a Scandinavian variant of the biblical name John â and based on the labels of various pastries on the counter, we can now additionally pinpoint the ownerâs assumed country of origin to Sweden. This might or might not be a hint to one of the intended S3 locations, as the final version of the same coffee shop focuses on America (and New York in particular) instead.
The obvious reference to Saint John the Apostle was strengthened by the amount of notebooks and writing paraphernalia visible in the second picture. Looks like his modern iteration, possibly a prototype of Nina, was supposed to be a writer. Hopefully a bit more present than book Aziraphaleâs recollection of the Apostle:
âSt. John the Divine of Patmos, whose âRevelationâ had been the all-time best seller. Aziraphale had found him a nice chap, if a bit too fond of odd mushrooms.â
The âGive me coffee or give me deathâ motto might not have been there yet, but the exact same sentiment was already expressed through set design elements like the poster above â just like the clear view on both the record shop as well as the bookshop in each of the photobashes. If you had any doubts about Metatronâs ability to peek into the drama unfolding there during the Final Fifteen before, this should give you some food for thought.
Crowleyâs home away from home
The Bentleyâs parking spot was originally conceptualised as a sewer tunnel underneath the Westminster Bridge rather than a quaint London side street. It made Crowleyâs homelessness more obvious and the unexpected appearances of Shax and Beelzebub much more sinister and invasive. The final in-universe location for these scenes suggested by the skyline superimposed on the Edinburgh set is still close to the river Thames, but on the other side of it â which means even closer to Soho and its resident principality.
Jimâs bedroom and its treasures
Originally seemed much more like Aziraphaleâs territory â marked not only by the omnipresent books, but also multiple swords, canes, and other memorabilia scattered around the room, like an antique Chinese incense burner, a Moroccan brass serving dish, and a shell. Thereâs even a Victorian vanity cabinet with a traditional shaving set (probably another recommendation of Aziraphaleâs barber). Since it was eventually filmed in the same part of the bookshop set as Aziraphale and Crowleyâs private conversation before the Edinburgh trip, the amount of decorations had to be limited, even if for purely practical reasons.
Whickber Streetâs history
The following piece, originally shared by Prime Video X-Ray as a part of the official S2 look book gallery, seems particularly mysterious, since its context hasnât been revealed yet in any of the official or half-official communications. Itâs an interior view of the Dirty Donkey pub from the Victorian times â something that visibly deviates from the already established storylines from this era (i.e., 1859 A Tale of Two Cities bookshop scene tragically cut from S1, the Holy Water Argument of 1862, and the late 1880s gavotte scene at the discreet gentlemenâs club in Portland Place). Needless to say, Iâm gnawing at the bars of my enclosure at the very thought of the possibilities here.
Letâs fast-forward a bit to the next ineffable meeting though. The existence of night and day scenes from the same locations might suggest that the original 1941 minisode had initially spanned over more than one day after all, even though the events shown on screen in S2 fit within one evening. This can be seen as a new source of hope for the Blitz (almost-)kiss truthers.
The 1941 concept arts showcase not only Will Goldstoneâs Magic Shop, but also other parts of Aziraphaleâs neighbourhood. If you look closely at the right side of this picture, you will notice a group of soldiers queuing up in the entryway leading to the exact location of Mrs Sandwichâs shop in the modern day Soho. Who knows, maybe Maggie is not the only one continuing an old family business tradition in the area?
Unlike the above mentioned establishments, the modern day locations of Chinatownâs Lucky Snake grocery shop, Phangâs buffet restaurant, as well as Bilton Scaggs Hats and Caps were out of luck (or, more probably, Aziraphaleâs personal sphere of influence) and suffered great damage from the air raids. Protecting the bookshop and its contents must had taken quite a toll on the angel; canât really imagine any other reason for him to allow this level of destruction and tragedy so close to his home.
Still on the topic of damage â this time of the emotional sort â letâs take a look at the contrast between Bildad and Aziraphaleâs original depictions in âA Companion to Owlsâ minisode. I have three questions: what in Mad Max AU even is this, what kind of unspeakable things must have happened to our Flood era princess, and why was this piece titled âCrowley BC 13â?
While answers to the above questions are still nowhere to be found â just like everyoneâs favourite obstetrician slash cobbler â these original concept arts provide some comfort in a series of very biblical, very angelic depictions of Aziraphale. Fingers crossed for a similarly optimistic wing budget and the subsequently big amount of true form screen time in S3!
