Why David Tennant Loved Filming This ‘Good Omens’ Flashback

Amazon Prime’s highly-anticipated series “Good Omens” will mostly focus on the present day apocalypse, but the series will also take viewers all through human history. Star David Tennant told International Business Times that he was partial to a specific flashback.

“Shakespeare’s Globe was a favorite just because we filmed in the Globe which is like the most amazing set build you could ever wish for,” Tennant told IBT before his discussion at PaleyFest New York on Tuesday.

The Scottish actor has starred in numerous Shakespeare plays, but “Good Omens” isn’t his first TV series to film at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. While “Doctor Who” filmed mostly in Cardiff, Wales, the series went on location for the Season 3 Shakespeare episode in 2007.

Viewers shouldn’t expect “Good Omens” to time travel as much as “Doctor Who,” though. Tennant, who is also starring in HBO’s “Camping” later this month, noted that a lot of scenes set in the past are just quick glimpses at his demon character Crowley’s history with Michael Sheen’s angel Aziraphale.

“A lot of those time periods we danced through very fast,” he noted. “One scene in the Globe, one scene in ‘60s London, a little bit in Nazi Germany. We kind of do a whistle-stop tour of human history. But each one, it was a lot of dressing up so it was fun.”

The fun is part of what drew Tennant to “Good Omens.” “I just read the script and went ‘This is delicious,’” Tennant said. “It’s brilliantly written. What those two characters do sort of throughout time. It’s great. It’s like a fairytale. It feels like a story that’s been around forever. I mean, it’s been around for 30 years, but it feels like it’s been around for centuries.”

The Amazon Prime show is based on Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s book of the same name, and it’s another dive into science-fiction/fantasy for Tennant, who has also starred in “Marvel’s Jessica Jones,” “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” and “Fright Night.” However, the actor said that he doesn’t necessarily look for genre projects.

“I just like stuff that feels exciting and that feels different, and there’s some great writing there,” the 47-year-old explained on the PaleyFest red carpet. “There’s some great opportunity for telling stories when you take away some of the barriers of normalcy. So I don’t know that I do [look for sci-fi/fantasy projects] specifically. Although I loved working in ‘Doctor Who,’ and I guess ‘Good Omens’ is from a similar heightened universe. And that affords a certain type of storytelling that’s fun to be a part of.”

“Good Omens” will be released on Amazon Prime in 2019.