#apologies for this taking so long but i've been nonstop busy for four days

[ingravinoveritas]

The plot of Staged 3, part 2.

(Insp.)

[ingravinoveritas]

Hey, it’s me again.. I took a little time off to elaborate all of this, I went through various stages of disappointment, sadness and anger, but now I’m feeling better (even though it left a bitter taste in my mouth).

I did read all of the comments and reblogs to your posts, they made me cry (in a good way!) and I started to feel less alone indeed, a heartfelt thanks goes to them, definitely ❤️ this is what a fandom should be, whether it is Good Omens’ fandom or Neil Gaiman’s fandom (well I hardly see myself becoming part of his fandom now, even though I like some of his works, i.e. The Sandman).

The fact that he’s a writer is the reason why I weighed his words so much, otherwise I would have thought “okay maybe it was a poor choice of words and didn’t mean that”.. He knows exactly what he did instead, he used his skill with words against someone who barely speaks his language. This was unfair and unnecessary on so many levels imo.

About my ask, in my mind this was a point of view that maybe could’ve been useful for him to consider. I asked that in his interest, I mean, at the end of the day it’s his series, not mine. He didn’t even try to understand, instead. The point he’s missing with Staged is that Staged is not any series, it’s a series where the main characters (the two couples, but there’s also Ty in the third season) are supposed to be the actors’ real personalities and relationships (“supposed to”: I know they’re still fictional), so seeing all of them together in a scene of any series (not only Good Omens) would feel like breaking the fourth wall to me. I know it’s not something that everybody would experience, but definitely some people would. The nepotism thing is kind of connected to this, but mostly I’m really concerned about David Tennant being accused of that (the first “joke” was already there at Basingstoke). I mean, if Georgia had accepted the role and Olive had passed the audition, there would have been four members of his family involved (I know Peter Davison is an accomplished actor, but he’s also part of the Tennants family portrait, especially talking about Doctor Who), they’re just two for now, but the fact that Neil said that in a hypothetical season three, he would like to offer Georgia and Anna a part… The risk was there again. Maybe he thought that it would please the fans who always idolise them no matter what; this part of fans is really loud, but that doesn’t mean that they’re the actual majority. Also, this doesn’t mean that I hate them either, I would never do something like this out of hate, I’m not so miserable.

In summary, I just wanted him to read and consider that, I wasn’t really interested in an answer, tbh. It’s not like I was expecting something like “yeah, this is nepotism on my part! Thanks for asking xx” (though… That would’ve been a funnier response). As I said previously, this might have been an impulsive decision, and even a naïve one.

(1/2)

Hello, Anon. I'm back from my work trip and finally not entirely exhausted, so now I can answer your Ask and all of the other Anons still waiting in my inbox.

I'm glad to hear from you again, and that you are feeling better. I very much relate to what you said about having a tendency to blame yourself for everything, because I do the exact same thing. But there is a difference between blame and responsibility, and while you are responsible for choosing to ask Neil that question, you are not to blame for how he chose to respond to it.

You mentioned not being sure what to do now, and thinking about sending him Crowley's line about asking questions (which is also something that I thought of when this whole thing happened). My personal suggestion would be not to message him at all, as there really isn't anything else that can be said and I think it would probably just give you more anxiety worrying about if/how he'd respond again.

The thing to keep in mind is that Neil is who he is. Being a writer does not automatically make someone better or smarter than anyone else--Ernest Hemingway was an abuser and a drunk; Hunter S. Thompson was, well..."LSD-soaked madman" is putting it generously; F. Scott Fitzgerald's relationship with Zelda made Kanye and Kim K. look Amish, and the list goes on--but what I think has happened with Neil is that there is such a hype around who fans perceive him to be...the "image" of Neil Gaiman as opposed to the actual human Neil Gaiman. What we have now had a glimpse of is the actual human, and that for as calm and cool as Neil always seems to come across, there are clearly things that can still ruffle his metaphorical feathers.

I don't know if you've visited Neil's blog again, by the way, but just a few days ago, he responded to this Ask which I and everyone else who read it would most definitely categorize as "creepy"...and yet he answered it and did not call that person out the way he did with you. What that tells me is that what happened with you was not because of anything you did, but because Neil read it the way he did. And there could be so many other factors at play as well--the fact that he is in the middle of a divorce, the effects of the Writers' Strike and what that will potentially mean for GO 2--that ultimately contributed to his mindset while answering.

The other thing I will say is that I've already seen part of your concerns come to life, as following the release of the GO 2 opening credits, some fans were insisting that the order of David and Michael's names in the sequence and David's name supposedly appearing first (as opposed to Michael's in the S1 credits) was a reference to Staged:

In actuality, both David and Michael's names appear at the same time (but Michael's is less visible due to being in the sky). Neil even seemed to confirm this when someone recently asked about it. Not only that, he did not mention anything about Staged at all, which in all likelihood means it was probably not a specific reference. But seeing fans rush to this conclusion seemingly validates what we've been saying all along, and when I saw it, I immediately felt annoyed. For me, Good Omens and Staged are two very different things, as well as entirely separate things, and I categorically do not like the feeling of looking at anything related to GO and thinking of Staged. Only my opinion, of course, but there it is.

Finally, regarding the nepotism situation, one thing I've also noticed is people saying that this is somehow brand new, or that no one cared before GO 2. As I've mentioned previously, I became a fan of Michael's and "got into" him before I did David, so I will fully admit to being less knowledgeable around the nepotism issues there (Ty in ATWI80D, Georgia getting a part in DW because of Peter, then producing YM&H). But I can say with absolute certainty that concerns of nepotism with Anna were being voiced years ago, as far back as the first season of Staged and then right through to her being in Last Train to Christmas in 2021. So this is not remotely anything new, nor related only to GO, but to every role AL has had (Staged, LTTC, and Sandman), all of which she has gotten because of Michael.

I would also encourage people to read this post from last year on @invisibleicewands' blog for some very insightful tea about nepotism. One commenter is a former actor and shared some extremely interesting information in the notes in particular, of which I'd like to share a few:

I'm very willing to bet that all of the above--especially the part about casting directors and casting practices--are things Neil already knows, and are at least part of what caused his disproportionate response to your question. Because if this is something well-known and common to the industry, you are very likely not at all the first person who has brought this up to him, as well as the fact that four members of the same family (David, Ty, Peter, Georgia) nearly ended up in the same season of one show (GO season 2).

Could Neil have had enough and just snapped? Sure. We all have our limits, our quota of what we can handle at any given time, in any given day. And he would have absolutely been well within his rights to ignore your question entirely. That he read it as being "not in good faith" tells me this is a subject that's come up before, and has led to him being on the defensive. Which, again...also understandable. But the fact that Neil--who is a writer, who has spent an untold amount of his life writing about all sorts of things in painstakingly detail-- couldn't parse a fan asking a genuine question or distinguish it from an attack is not okay, and neither was his choice to respond so condescendingly and set you up as a target for the larger fandom.

But you already know all this, Anon, so let me stop before I repeat myself too much. I am just glad that you decided to write to me again, and that you took such comfort from both my words and the folks who commented on my post. I am sorry that the whole thing has left such a bitter taste in your mouth (though understandably so), but with all the wonderful new things we've gotten in the last few days (opening credits, the new poster), that thankfully gives us happy things to focus on instead.

Sending you lots of love again and the hope that you will continue to feel better and not let this take away your excitement for GO 2 entirely. Thanks for writing in! x

[ingravinoveritas]

So...AL is pregnant...

So...whew. These are all the initial Anons that I received about last week’s news. (A few more have come in recently, but I will answer those separately.)

Before I get into the meat of my response, I want to put a few disclaimers and/or caveats out there. My goal in responding to all of this is not to tell anyone how to react or to feel some type of way about this news, but to share my own perspective. I love that there is such a range of responses in the Anons above and that folks felt comfortable enough to share their thoughts and feelings with me, because all of these responses are valid (well, I might have to put Anon #5 on notice, because that last sentence is SO CURSED). And while I intend to speak frankly and honestly and not sugarcoat things, I do not wish any ill on Michael, AL, the pregnancy, and so on. (I shouldn’t even have to say that, but I wanted to make it clear from the outset.)

All that being said, my reaction to the news--both initially and now several days later--is a mixture of disbelief and confusion. And I think at least part of this stems from not the news itself, but how it was announced. So let’s get a few screenshots up here, because it seems like this all started with a tweet of Michael’s that came even before the announcement:

A few hours before the pregnancy announcement, Michael posted this picture in honor of St. David’s Day. What may not have been immediately obvious (though is more visible in the larger version of this pic) is that there is an open suitcase in front of Lyra, and in the suitcase was a green bottle of prenatal vitamins. So the question then becomes, was Michael’s hand forced because of the bottle/people noticing, or was this posted deliberately to get people talking? Because only a few hours later, the announcement happened (followed by AL posting about it on Instagram/Twitter, also shown below):

This is the point where I started to struggle with all of this, and I think it’s because rather than being genuine, heartfelt statements, these come across as specific, PR crafted social media posts. I knew immediately that I’d heard or seen #AngelDelight (which is a dessert) used by Michael somewhere else, though I couldn’t place it right away. But I soon realized that it is very possibly (likely) a reference to the last episode of the first season of Staged, where Michael and David are talking about Dame Judi Dench’s presence, and Michael says, “It’s sort of like being consumed by Angel Delight.” So that was sort of multiple references in one, as it were.

Then, of course, there was also the direct Good Omens reference in AL’s caption, with #StillNotTheAntichrist (which, if I remember correctly, is also a reference to Georgia’s post from three years ago with pictures of Michael and David from behind respectively holding baby carriers). Knowing how much Michael cares about and is protective of GO and Aziraphale, I really don’t think he would be one to use GO/Aziraphale to promote a pregnancy (or vice-versa). But the fact that this announcement was made on the day GO 2 wrapped filming, with those references in it, feels incredibly deliberate and calculated on someone’s (probably PR) part.

(Side note, but I’ve had Anons message me previously about absolutely not wanting Anna or Georgia to have anything to do with GO 2, and even though she is not in the show, it now feels like she is inextricably tied into it, which...taints Good Omens for me a little, if I’m honest. Because GO is something special and unique, and connecting the pregnancy to it sort of cheapens what GO is supposed to be about, which is the relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley. Just my opinion, anyway.)

I think what we also have to talk about is that, when it comes to pregnancy and kids, people make assumptions based on certain preconceived ideas. It may seem like having another kid means that the relationship is in a good place, but sometimes people have a baby for other reasons. A sense of obligation, or duty, is one. Another reason can be that the relationship is not in a good place at all, and that having another baby will save the relationship (which, for the record, is an extremely bad idea and almost never works).

The other assumption that often seems to be made is that having a baby is about love, and how much a couple love each other. But it doesn’t take love to have a baby--all it takes (and all it proves) is two people having sex, and not doing anything to interfere with the biology of it. And I think, for me, that is what I see in this particular situation. So in truth, we have no idea why Michael and AL are having this baby, only that it is happening, and we have no idea how they really feel about it from PR-generated posts, and I don’t think we will know until we see them in public together again.

I know a lot of folks have mentioned the age gap, and if that is an issue people have, I do completely understand it. For me, however, the issue has never been the age gap, because I was also involved with an older man when I was around AL’s age. The problem for me is what I mentioned in the previous paragraph: That Michael and AL are just not on the same page, do not seem to have much chemistry or anything in common beyond these children, and that this does not feel or seem like something that happened out of love but rather out of indifference. Michael has not really shown any demonstrable passion for AL (certainly not compared to what he has shown for David), and I don’t believe it’s because he’s matured or changed, nor do I think he was so expressive in the past because he wanted to show off those relationships. I think he was so demonstrative simply because he felt that way about those people, and he can’t hide the way he feels when he genuinely loves someone.

And the fact is, despite having countless opportunities to do so, Michael has never once publicly said that he loves Anna. Not once, in three years. I’m not saying he has to declare his undying devotion in every interview, but when he calls Anna his “co-star” and then five seconds later say that he loves David...it just really makes you wonder about things, and far less willing to categorize this news as having anything to do with love.

So I think if there is any reason Michael has been so happy since the Fall, it’s almost assuredly because of filming Good Omens 2, and being with David. The change in his demeanor was nearly palpable--first at the NTA Awards in September, and then from the very first behind the scenes pictures and bits that were released--and stayed visible all through the last six months. And after those hair dyeing pics that were posted, it’s hard not to see the change again--but this time, not necessarily for the better.

Again, all of this (lengthy as it was), was my opinion. I know that I may not see eye-to-eye/disagree strongly with some Anons, but my hope is that we can have this discussion respectfully, while still disagreeing. I would also certainly love to be wrong about my perspective on this, and if I am, I will readily admit to being wrong. But this was the reaction and the feelings I had, and I wanted to share them with you all honestly. Thanks for writing in, Anons, and now I’ll try to go finish the five zillion other Anons still waiting... x