On May 30th, Good Omens director Douglas Mackinnon, author Neil Gaiman, producer Rob Wilkins, and actress Adria Arjona (Anathema Device) joined us for a video Answer Time and shared things like their favorite scenes, scariest filming moments, and top five earthly pleasures. The show launched the following day and sponsored a site-wide takeover for 24 hours. This Year in Review, Good Omens has dominated across the board, resulting in #1 rankings on multiple lists. Here’s how we got there:
The Story
It was a wild year for Good Omens, both in your hearts and on our rankings. The title first appeared in 2017 at #19 on Year in Review’s Books list and moved up eight spots to #11 in 2018. Things were quiet with the series until the show premiered on May 31st, and Aziraphale and Crowley entered the television sphere. The show debuted on our weekly Fandometrics lists the following Monday, June 3rd, 2019. That week, #Good Omens was the second-most-talked-about thing on all of Tumblr, between Marvel and Captain Marvel. It took the top spot the following week, reigning at #1 for nine straight weeks until Taylor Swift came for the crown on August 26th. It was truly a summer of angels and demons.
Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett have also long been Tumblr faves, appearing at #8 and #7, respectively, on the 2015 Top Authors list. After the list returned from its 2016 vacation, Neil took a bit of a dip to #9 in 2017, and to #11 in 2018. In 2018, Terry also returned to the list at No. 16. This year, they are back to back at the top where they belong. Neil Gaiman has had a big year on Tumblr—he’s answered more than 1,000 questions on his blog, @neil-gaiman, since January 2019.
The Ship
People have been shipping Aziraphale and Crowley since as early as 2001, with people on LiveJournal calling them ineffable since 2005. Ineffable Husbands was solidified as their ship name when it began to trend in March, coinciding with the release of the first trailer. By June 3rd, the pairing had debuted at #1 on the Ships list, where it stayed for twelve weeks, until September 9th when it was displaced by Reddie (Richie Tozier & Eddie Kaspbrak) after the release of IT Chapter 2.
Ineffable Husbands is the ship of the year for multiple reasons: they are an angel and a demon—not human, and therefore not defined by their gender or sexuality, they’ve spent 6,000 years taking risks to help save each other, a love that surpasses the end of the world. They also have completely opposite approaches to plants, which @dotstronaut captured perfectly in the ship’s top post from 2019.
"[Wait and see] began on Tumblr. And then, seeing I was writing episode 5 at the time and it was already a thing, it crept into the show." — Neil Gaiman, and his commitment to the bit.
