David Tennant has seen the end of the world more than most actors. His first major role, as the hundreds-of-years-old Tenth Doctor in the BBC’s long, long-running sci-fi epic Doctor Who had him dealing with an apocalypse seemingly every other week for five years. Now, he’s in a new show about preventing the end of everything: Amazon’s Good Omens.
Based on the book by Neil Gaiman and the legendary Terry Pratchett, who passed away in 2015, Good Omens ostensibly follows an angel, Aziraphale (Michael Sheen, delightful), and a demon, Crowley (Tennant, just as delightful), who know the end times are coming thanks to the birth of the antichrist. They subtly try to prevent proceedings, having grown accustomed to life on earth. Really, though, it’s just an Odd Couple–style sitcom with special effects and adventurous asides. Tennant and Sheen have a blast together, and whenever the story demands they split up on a mission or whatever, things tend to drag. That’s what happens when you miss your best friend.
As someone who grew up in the U.K. on an all but prescribed diet of Doctor Who and the Harry Potter films (in which Tennant has a small but significant role), meeting him proves a more intimidating prospect than most of my other assignments. This is an actor whose show I used to watch over and over again and, more recently, a guy who also happened to kill it in Hamlet. My fears are unfounded, though; the wiry 48-year-old Scot bounds into the Midtown restaurant where we’re set to eat and talks to me like an old friend, immediately ordering himself a Coke. Over a heaping calamari salad (which he devoured) and a humiliatingly tiny ramekin of Brussels sprouts (I thought it would be bigger, Tennant laughed at me, life goes on), we talked about his new show, his old shows, the singular, honorific joy of performing Shakespeare, and, crucially, what we both like to watch on telly.
GQ: I heard you were the last main Good Omens cast member brought on board. Is that true?
David Tennant: It is, yeah. Michael [Sheen] had been on board to play Crowley, and as the script developed, him and Neil both came to the separate understanding that maybe he was more suited to Aziraphale. I was blissfully unaware of any of this. It just arrived as a really fun project. It's one of those ones you go, "Oh, everything about this is great. This is a fantastic script, I get to work with Michael Sheen, Douglas Mackinnon's a director I've worked with before on Doctor Who, and it's a Neil Gaiman project. What's not to snap up?
You and Michael are both Shakespearean actors as well. You've both done quite a bit of that. Had you known each other? Had you worked together before?
We're of a similar peer group, I suppose. This was the first time we'd actually worked together, although we've known each other for years. Obviously, I've been a huge admirer of everything that he's ever done and was...that was one of the huge seductions of this project, that I get to work with him. Of course, then it's a bit of a gamble because this really is a buddy movie. A lot of it is just the two of us on park benches or in shops or wherever it might be, talking to each other. I was fairly confident I knew the sort of actor that Michael was and the way he would be and what that experience would be like. But it could have all gone terribly wrong, of course, because it so relies on that. That central relationship is so key to the story that I was delighted to find out that all my expectations were met.
This is a genre-driven, really stylized, lots-of-plot-going-on kind of story. But at the heart, as you said, it’s a buddy movie; it's about two people who enjoy each other's company and wanting to spend a bit more time with each other.
It's a real collision of the cosmic and the domestic. At heart, it's about two very human supernatural beings, actually, who are almost more human than everyone else around them.
I suppose you could say they're accustomed to a human way of life now.
They've definitely gone native, yeah. They have no interest in the end of the world. They enjoy the...texture of the mortal world, they enjoy glasses of wine and dinners and nice restaurants. They don't need them, of course, but they appreciate the joy of it, which their respective head offices don't understand at all.
I like how Crowley is causing definite mayhem, but his other demons don't seem to understand quite how much taking down London's cell-phone towers will actually cause as much chaos as it would. They want “traditional” evil.
That's the other thing: It works as a workplace comedy as well, that the bosses are idiots and the workers are being sent down blind alleys by them all the time. I think there's lots of relatable stuff, even though it's a story about the supernatural.
One particularly fun episode has you and Michael Sheen throughout the ages, pretty much. And then it takes up half the episode, and then the opening credits come in—
Can I tell you? That’s one of my favorite things. I keep calling it the longest cold open in television history, and I don't know if that's—
Ooh! That's not true!
It's not true? What beats us?
Have you heard of The OA on Netflix? Their opening sequence happens at the end of the first episode, an hour in.
Oh, my God. Not even close! Ah! Still, we had a stab at it. Twenty-eight minutes, I believe. Darn! Beat by The OA. Oh well.
I have to ask: Were those contacts or was it CGI for your eyes? They looked excruciating.
I wear contact lenses anyway, so I had an advantage. And they put my prescription in. So there are two types of them, the ones that just fit over the color part of your eye, and then for those particularly demonic moments, the ones that fit the whole eye. I’m glad, though, that they look more extreme than they felt.
You also had a great season of Jessica Jones relatively recently. Great, slimy, horrible character.
Yeah, Killgrave. He was brilliantly bad... Such clever writing, the way they took the superhero genre and explored some really important topics through that. And Kristen [Ritter], I think, is such a great bit of casting in that part. I loved every moment.
It's a shame that Netflix has kind of wiped their Marvel slate now.
It is a shame, yeah, because I think other circumstances have led to that. Disney and such all jumping online. But at least there'll be three perfect seasons.
So yes, you've worked with Netflix and now Amazon. How are you finding the whole streaming world, with all these new, basically tech companies coming into this artistic world that's been so similar for so long and is suddenly very different?
It doesn't really affect the day-to-day doing of the job. My experience with Netflix and Amazon were that they were very supportive. They're well-resourced, which quite frankly makes a difference, you know? As far as I can tell, they seem to support the creatives who are working there and are relatively hands-off in terms of executive interference, which I think is sometimes an issue on some channels.
So as far as I can tell, they're great places to work, and there's a lot of stuff being made. I don't really understand the business models, and I have no idea if they're sustainable or not, but for now there's a lot of great stuff being made by companies that are willing to put a lot of money and resources behind them, so that should be an environment for some great material.
Good Omens isn’t a small production, but I was pleasantly struck by its strangeness on such a big budget.
And this is interesting, because Good Omens is a co-production with the BBC. I guess that allows the BBC, which has limited resources, to team up with someone else, bring their skill set, but use the resources of a bigger company. I think co-productions are happening increasingly, as the expectations for what TV must be get higher and higher.
If it were just a BBC production, I don't think you'd have been able to get all those Queen songs.
Probably not! I think there were lots of things that on a BBC budget we wouldn't have been able to achieve. It just would have been a very different show. It doesn't mean it wouldn't have been equally successful, but to do Good Omens this way, you need those resources.
So I did the math, and the modern iteration of Doctor Who has been around for more than half my life, which is wild. It’s definitely been a part of my introduction to sci-fi and genre as a whole.
Right! Oh, you're terrifyingly young.
I think it's fair to say a lot of people met you initially through The Doctor.
Sure, sure.
Since you finished in 2010, I feel like you've gravitated toward darker roles, even outright villains. Was that on purpose?
No. I've never really done anything on purpose, which sounds like a joke. It's always been a bit more random, a bit more opportunistic. But yes, I probably have done quite a few villainous types since then. I don't know if that's just a natural reaction to, if you play a heroic part, people are interested in seeing you do something else, or whether instinctively, subconsciously, I've pursued that, or whether it's just an act of slightly getting older. Maybe that introduces you into a slightly different casting bracket. I don't really know. But I've certainly been afforded some fun parts to play, so you know, to get to explore those different aspects is always appealing.
And Crowley is also an eons-old being. Not many actors get to play someone who's seen centuries of history, let alone two people.
That's true, and Scrooge McDuck is similar!
Right! Oh, man, I forgot about that, that you were Scrooge McDuck! I watched the first few episodes of the Ducktales relaunch. It's a fun time!
Beautifully done, yeah. I think it's done with so much love because all the creators on it are the people that grew up, in a very similar way to the Doctor Who reboot. The people who brought that show back did it because they loved it when they were kids, and it was very formative for them. Not dissimilar shows in a way, actually.
Outstanding voice cast, top to bottom. Really amazing. Is there ever a case where you're in the same place at the same time?
Never when we're recording. We met at press events and things like that. We, of course, all got together at San Diego ComicCon for the launch of the first season, and that was the first day we all met. Suddenly, we were doing all these press conferences together; we were total strangers. But it's nice to meet up now and again. I see Ben [Schwartz] quite a lot.
Oh, isn’t he great?
Have you seen his Middleditch and Schwartz? I mean, it defies belief. They just walk out on stage, get an idea, and then do a whole show. I mean, they've clearly got some sort of symbiotic relationship, but it's wonderful to witness.
I've never been to one of those, but I do hear that's the one that sells out first during the Del Close marathon.
They did it at Carnegie Hall recently. I’m very proud of him.
I haven't read Good Omens, and I didn't know about the reaction that it had upon release. I'm sure there was a reaction from religious communities and things like that. I wouldn't say it's flippant, but it's certainly very playful.
You know, I never asked him about that. I don't know if he did ever get any kickback, because it's surprisingly kind of on message, isn’t it? It's not irreligious at all. Yes, it's playful, that's the word. Mischievous, I suppose, with the kind of accepted tropes. I dare say people can find things to be offended, people can be offended by a glass of water if they set their mind to it. I can't imagine religious communities will find this problematic at all. I may be setting myself up for a fall there!
I think the same thing. I love the satanic nuns, all of whom just want to get a little closer to the celebrity antichrist. What a nice little touch.
Nina Sosanya, who plays the lead, I suppose, nun who takes the baby from me, I've known Nina for years, and I sat next to her at the initial table read for this, and she's one of those people for whom this book is fundamental. She said, "I reread this book every year of my life. I would have turned up and made tea for people on set. I just wanted to be involved." I mean, we were very lucky to have her play the part that she does.
I think that's when I started realizing how precious this book is to people. People don't just like it, they adore it, and it's really special to them. For some people, it just captures them. And of course, it's exciting to be involved in something that people have been looking forward to for 30 years, as far as I can tell, a real cherished property. But you also become increasingly aware that it's quite precious to people and that you carry their dreams. That there's stuff there to break.
Oh, I'm sure that's just the life of an actor, though, isn't it? Even with something like Doctor Who or even a minor part in Harry Potter, there's always going to be something that people think they know, something that people want it to be that's not going to be the case.
Without a doubt, and Doctor Who and Harry Potter and probably Ducktales are the ones that I'm aware people carry in their hearts. With Doctor Who, I felt completely prepared for that because I knew. I'd had that experience. With this it was like, I discovered the fandom, the passion for it, after. I committed to it just thinking, "This is a fucking great script, I don't want anyone else to do this part."
It seems a foolproof TV or film plan at the moment is to adapt a Neil Gaiman property.
Doesn't it? Yeah.
Neil Gaiman or Stephen King. Have you done a King?
No, I haven't, no. Maybe that's next. What are the successful ones? What should I watch?
It made a lot of money last year. Gerald's Game is fantastic on Netflix. I just fell in love with Mr. Mercedes with Brendan Gleeson.
Brendan! That’s sorted, then. I'd like to find a new show.
Yeah, what do you watch in your down time?
Well, recently my wife and I, very late to the party, discovered Line of Duty. We've heard people talking about it for years and never tuned in, and then discovered it. Watched four seasons on the trot just in time for season 5, which came on the BBC last month.
I dropped off watching The Leftovers during season one, then came back to it and wondered why I ever stopped.
Oh, wow! You know, I think I saw the first episode. It’s intense. HBO, isn't it?
It's HBO. It's really outstanding. Another Doctor.
Yeah, Chris is in that!
I interviewed him, actually. I did an oral history of one of the episodes, and he's fantastic. I think he had a weird reputation in the British press, who can get a little vindictive if you’re not chatty and friendly and accessible all the time.
Often, though, I think it's a dumb part of your job, going around and being yourself to strangers. That's not really got anything to do with pretending to be other people, which is why it’s almost a separate discipline. You have to learn as you go how to interact with that side of the profession.
And which parts of yourself you actually are willing to give, I suppose.
Yeah. I think you have to figure it out as you go sometimes. So maybe people get unfairly tarnished with trying to figure out what version of themselves they want to be in that scenario.
I'm sure for people who are in things like Star Wars and Doctor Who that it must eventually get tiring years after the fact when most of the questions are around something that's done.
It certainly gets to a stage where there aren't really any new questions to be asked about something like that. But you've been in something that people love, so it’s churlish to deny that, to pretend that you don't expect to ever be asked about it.
Good Omens adapts the entire book. Is it a one-and-done deal?
Mmm-hmm. Beginning, middle, and an end. Which is weirdly rare now on television! It's been quite interesting to talk to people, and there's an expectation that we're going to do more, and we're like, "Well, there was a novel!" Thank you very much. "And that was our source material, and we've done it!"
Do you think if Amazon came back begging and throwing money, there would be a discussion around it at least?
I can't imagine. I mean, it finishes.
That's good. You see some of these shows having to rush to rewrite the final episode because they know it's going to be "the final" episode or things like that. Have you ever been involved in anything like that?
I've certainly been involved in things that don't come back that were hoping to. I guess it's, well, it's part of the culture, isn't it? As a viewer, I'm quite relieved when things are shorter now, because there's so much stuff. When you find something that you love, of course it's wonderful when there are multiple seasons, but as an actor, it’s also quite nice to not feel like you're embarking on a 20-season deal. I guess that's one of the selling points for Good Omens.
Was that part of the appeal of Kilgrave, is that he dies at the end of season one, that you knew you could close him out?
Yeah, there is something appealing about knowing you're going to have an arc and there's an end in sight for it, yeah.
So where do you go from here? You’ve done a seminal sci-fi series, you’ve been Hamlet, you’ve done Gaiman, what’s next?
The idea of doing something in a genre that you're not familiar with is very exciting. I can go from theater to film to TV and radio plays. That's part of what I love about it; the variety of it. And within that, there’s something like Good Omens, which is big and crazy and funny and wild. And then the thing I would like to do is a very naturalistic, very quite somber, dark little tale. It's almost like different jobs. They are different jobs, but it's almost like different professions.
And then you need to carve out some time to be a duck for half the day.
Exactly, exactly. Every now and again you have to be a duck!
From being the Doctor, I'm sure you've had your fair share of various theories being thrown at you. Like, for instance, this romantic theory about Crowley and Aziraphale.
Well, it is a love story, I think. I think every buddy movie, which is what this essentially is, is a love story, subtextually.
Some are more overtly homoerotic than others.
It's not explicitly stated, certainly. I don't know if the supernatural beings are sexual in any way, so it's probably best not judging them on the same criteria where we judge ourselves.
That's true as well. They might think it's a lot of fuss about nothing.
Yeah, quite. Well, they found out they quite enjoy wine, so I suppose they might find they— [giggles] but then who knows how that might work...mechanically for them? I don't know what machinery they have.
Right, they've got wings. Who knows what's under those dapper suits?
But they can magic everything up, it would seem, so...