Is there any on-screen relevance or evidence that Good Omens is narrated by God?

Is there any on-screen relevance or evidence that Good Omens is narrated by God? - A Man and Woman Wearing Angel Costumes

The off-screen narrator of the TV series Good Omens (voiced by Frances McDormand) is identified as God by:

  • the subtitles (prepending “God:” to the first line of the narrator),
  • the credits,
  • media coverage.

However, I cannot remember any occasion where it actually makes a difference that the narrator is God as opposed to your typical anonymous, omniscient off-screen narrator. Did I miss something? For example:

  • Is this voice (Frances McDormand’s) used for anything other than off-screen narration?
  • Does the narrator ever speak about herself?
  • Does the narrator otherwise identify herself as God?
  • Does the narrator ever utter any opinion or anything else that would be cast in a different light if uttered by God (as opposed to somebody who is merely omniscient)?

Mind that I am purely interested in on-screen (or more precisely on-audiotrack) connections.



Best Answer

I was pointed to a piece that identifies the narrator as God on screen. In the introductory exposition, she says:

This proves two things: Firstly, that God does not play dice with the universe. I play an ineffable game of my own devising.

(Except for the marked pronouns, this is identical to the respective passage in the book.)

As for the relevance, it is noteworthy that the narration uses the present tense (for the time of the main events). I interpret this as God being well aware of the end of the world not going according to the Great Plan and being fine with that, as she does not intervene. Her own ineffable plan may differ after all.

An off-screen reason may be to directly avoid certain kind of viewers. In the audio commentary on the scenes in the Garden of Eden (a few minutes later), Neil Gaiman says:

I like the idea that, if you are the kind of person who is gonna be offended by a non-white Adam and Eve, you can stop watching right now.

Identifying God as female has a similar effect and the above was a way to establish this very early and less bluntly than with just choosing a pronoun. And indeed, God being female was one of the arguments of a petition trying to make Netflix (sic) to cancel the series by Christian fundamentalists.




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Is there any on-screen relevance or evidence that Good Omens is narrated by God? - A Couple Holding Each Other's Hands
Is there any on-screen relevance or evidence that Good Omens is narrated by God? - A Man Wearing an Angel Costume
Is there any on-screen relevance or evidence that Good Omens is narrated by God? - A Man in Angel Costume Contemplating



Is the narrator in Good Omens God?

God, also known as the Almighty, is the creator of the universe and all things in it, who also serves as the narrator of Good Omens. Metatron is the Voice of God, but an entity in his own right.

Who plays the voice of God in good omens?

On 20 July 2018, it was announced during Amazon's San Diego Comic-Con panel that Frances McDormand had been cast as the voice of God as well as the series' narrator.



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