Gaiman And Pratchett's GOOD OMENS Coming To Amazon

Oh, it's good news here for scifi-fantasy fans with word reaking this morning that author Neil Gaiman is on board as an executive producer for an adaptation of Good Omens - the apocalyptic comedy he co-wrote with Terry Pratchett - being produced by BBC Studios and Amazon. Says Gaiman about the news:

Almost 30 years ago, Terry Pratchett and I wrote the funniest novel we could about the end of the world, populated with angels and demons, not to mention an 11-year-old Antichrist, witchfinders and the four horsepeople of the Apocalypse. It became many people's favorite book. Three decades later, it's going to make it to the screen. I can't think of anyone we'd rather make it with than BBC Studios, and I just wish Sir Terry were alive to see it.

For those who have never read it, Good Omens is an enormous favorite of many for the simple reason that it's absolutely fantastic - a perfect fusion of Gaiman's urban fantasy with Pratchett's absurdist humor. The book has seen several attempted feature film adaptations fail, a fact this version will skirt by not being a feature at all but rather a six part comedy series.

As an interesting side note here, and a bit of baseless conjecture, it's interesting to note that one of those failed attempts to bring Good Omens to the screen - and according to many, the one that came closest to succeeding - was at the hands of director Terry Gilliam. And Gilliam, of course, already has a two picture deal for feature films at Amazon with attendant rumblings that he also has TV properties in the works there. And the lack of a director attachment on this particular announcement is fairly prominent. I'm just sayin' ...