This interview was conducted before the SAG-AFTRA Strike.

The Big Picture

Liz Carr, Quelin Sepulveda, and Shelley Conn join the cast of Good Omens as new characters in the show’s second season. The actors had the freedom to bring their own uniqueness to their characters while staying true to the source material and collaborating with the rest of the cast and crew. The angels in Heaven, such as Muriel and Saraqael, are busy with administrative work and occasional miracles, but also value their autonomy and peace.

Prime Video’s Good Omens is returning this month, and that means welcoming a whole host of new faces to both Heaven and Hell. Now that Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and Crowley (David Tennant) have been cast out from their respective posts by their (not-so) ethereal overlords, there’s some vacancies in the admin departments — and Liz Carr, Quelin Sepulveda, and Shelley Conn are here to fill them, as the archangels Saraqael and Muriel, and the demon Beelzebub, respectively.

All three stars are newcomers to the series, fresh faces for a new season that goes beyond the end of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s book. While Conn takes over from Anna Maxwell Martin as the downright dastardly demon Beelzebub, Carr and Sepulveda play all new characters, who land on rather opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to what being an angel means. On one hand, Saraqael very pointedly sides with the crabby archangels Michael (Doon Mackichan) and Uriel (Gloria Obianyo), who are out to see Aziraphale discorporated (again), Sepulveda’s Muriel is far more innocent, visiting Earth for the very first time to keep an eye on the angel and his “grumpy friend, Mister Crowley.” Each end up mixed up in a new heavenly mystery in their own way, colliding with the powers-that-be for even more mayhem and mischief than the first time around.

Collider was excited to sit down with Sepulveda, Carr, and Conn prior to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike to discuss joining the new season and working with their co-stars and Neil Gaiman. During this interview, we also discussed what it’s like creating all-new characters, their favorite Queen songs, and just what angels do all day when they’re not bothering Aziraphale and Crowley. (Spoilers: it’s a lot of admin.)

Check out the full interview below or in the player above, and stream Good Omens on Prime Video.

Image via Prime Video

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COLLIDER: I loved all of you in this show, I thought you were all so unique. There’s something so special about each sort of demon and each sort of angel coming in and getting to do their own thing, especially since this is an all-new season, not based on a book or anything. So you’re all coming in as new characters — except for you, Shelley, you’re playing a different version of Beelzebub — so if you’re coming into something new like this, how do you go about building the sort of personality for your characters?

SHELLEY CONN: Well, the source material is a good place to start. With the success of the book and the first season, there was a lot to draw from there, but then the scripts that we were given are just full and rich and also allowed a lot of scope and encouragement from Neil [Gaiman] and our director to embellish and keep creating, to build upon what was given to us. We also had a lot of help from the world that was created by way of the sets and the production team and the costumes, and the hair and makeup. That’s even before you get on set and get to work with your scene partners, which is just the cherry on the top.

QUELIN SEPULVEDA: I think when you have something that sometimes you can feel a little bit, like you were saying this earlier, that you really want to do it justice because [it’s] such an incredible fan base and the work, you know, Season 1 and the book, it’s just so rich. But walking onto set, it was such a relaxed atmosphere, and it really felt like a collaboration. It didn’t feel like, “Oh, it’s my first day at school,” kind of thing, like, “I’m a little bit nervous!” It was actually just, “Yeah, this is our place of collaboration and creativity,” and you take what you need and you run with it. Everyone is just giving you 100% all the time, not just the actors but the crew as well. So, it was really smooth.

LIZ CARR: It didn’t really feel, like you said, that we were the newbies. Not really. Because everybody was like as if you were returning again, really, which is great. Like you were part of it. Like, “Okay, great. I’m part of it!”

To find your character, I think really so much– Obviously, you can watch the first series, and then the script has it all. It really does. And then, you were saying about the uniqueness, you’re allowed to just run with it, really, and bring your own uniqueness to it along with the script. So that was the joy, and I think that helped probably us all get in there as new people in this job.

Image via Prime Video

Yeah, I can imagine that was the case for you, Shelley, since you’re coming in sort of as the second iteration of Beelzebub. Were you given any sort of guidance as to, like…does it need to be similar to the first one, or do they kind of just let you loose? I mean, Beelzebub’s a demon, you know, so they’re kind of unpredictable at best.

CONN: [laughs] I mean, knowing that I would be in the same outfit, which fitted amazingly, as Anna Maxwell Martin—who did a phenomenal job, I think, of Season 1—and also talking to Neil and understanding from him…he just solved it so simply by just kind of going, “Oh, this old phase? I’ve had it for centuries.” It’s just so simple, and it just had a sort of flair to it that I think there was the simplicity of that that I felt gave me license.

The character was well established, the fans love the character, they love how they look, so it was a kind of step-into with a kind of bringing on board what was handed to me, almost like a sort of torch, you know, “Do continue,” [laughs] do you know what I mean? And it was kind of, “Okay, great.” So it felt like there was some sense of the spirit that had come from before still with me, like we’ve said, that kind of generosity and collaborative spirit of everybody around you that’s just kind of like, “Yeah, come join in! Come join in!” And it just means you can put your feet on the ground and get to work.

Liz and Quelin, you play angels. We see a little bit more of what’s going on in Heaven this season, given the whole mystery, but we don’t exactly know what goes on in Heaven. We see Muriel do a little bit of investigative work, like examining Aziraphale and Crowley, but Heaven seems like an awful lot of admin. What do you think they’re doing when they’re not bothering Aziraphale and Crowley?

SEPULVEDA: You know, you said it – admin has been Muriel’s existence, and it’s 24/7, but I also think they’re happy to do that. You know what I mean? They’re just working away.

CARR: You are!

SEPULVEDA: Yeah.

CARR: You are. Don’t speak for Saraqael. [laughs]

SEPULVEDA: Yeah, there’s a lot of admin, there’s like records and records of everything. They’re just working away, and then the odd, I don’t know, every few 1000 years, somebody will come and be like, “Oh, I need to look at that miracle from so-and-so time,” and I’m like, “Yes! I’ve got it right here!” You know what I mean? So, you’re right. It’s admin.

CARR: Saraqael, I think, spends their time trying not to be bothered. I think they sit in their lovely corner office with a great view over the universe and [are] kind of like, “Don’t bother me, don’t bother me until you really have to.” And what happens in Season 2 is, they really have to, and [Saraqael] comes out of the office.

Image via Prime Video

I have one final question for you guys. One of the big staples of Good Omens is Crowley’s Bentley, which is cursed to play nothing but Queen songs forever and ever and ever, so I’d like to know what your favorite Queen song is.

SEPULVEDA: I think “We Will Rock You” has got to be mine.

CONN: Oh yeah? Okay, good.

SEPULVEDA: Yeah. There’s just something about that, and I’m like, “Yes!”

CARR: I’ve got two! I got two. It’s “Radio Ga Ga” because I love the sort of synchronicity of the arms, which is funny because I can’t really do it, but I love it when they’re doing it. It was once playing in a show I was doing backstage. It was sort of the coming-on song. So, good memories. But I do love “We Are the Champions” as well. That really gets you going.

CONN: I mean, there’s not a bad one, is there? But the one that just came to my head, so I’m just going to call it my favorite for today, I might change my mind tomorrow, is “Another One Bites the Dust.”

Good Omens Season 2 premieres on Prime Video on July 28.