A lot of fans have noticed that some Good Omens characters have Supernatural namesakes, and Neil Gaiman, the creator of the fantasy comedy series and the co-author of the original book, has addressed the similarities.
In Kripke’s dark fantasy drama, which ran for 15 whole seasons, there was a demon by the name of Crowley, who was at one point the King of Hell, and there was also angel Metatron, the Scribe of God and the reason why Dean Winchester became a demon himself for a short while. One Good Omens fan wondered if Gaiman’s own Crowley and Metatron were inspired by their Supernatural equivalents, and the acclaimed author happily responded from his Tumblr account.
Gaiman assured the fan that the names were not “a coincidence” and that Kripke was “a huge Good Omens fan, and always happy to talk about it,” meaning that the Supernatural creator drew the inspiration from Gaiman’s work, not vice versa. Apparently, Good Omens wasn’t the only Gaiman novel that Kripke read and loved — according to the writer, he was “a Sandman fan and an American Gods fan” as well. Gaiman added, “You’ll find bits of each of them in Supernatural.”
Eric Kripke Says Supernatural Is Rooted in Neil Gaiman’s Works
Kripke himself has repeatedly mentioned that Supernatural is rooted in Gaiman’s works and is “basically The Sandman meets American Gods.” For instance, Castiel is essentially John Constantine’s wannabe, judging by his outfit, which is almost identical to that of the Hellblazer character.
In Kripke’s series, Death is portrayed as this ancient creature who was there even before Heaven or Hell, and that’s an evident callback to The Sandman. There are even entire episodes that are inspired by Gaiman-created universes. Season 5 Episode 19, “Hammer of the Gods,” which centers around a group of gods that kidnap Sam and Dean to use them as a means to stop the impending apocalypse, is practically a retelling of American Gods.
The Good Omens references did not end with Metatron and Crowley either. Apart from the biblical characters that bear the same names, Supernatural also featured a nod to Agnes Nutter, the witch who wrote The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter that guided the Anathema Device and Newton Pulsifer all throughout Good Omens Season 1 — Kripke’s Chuck Shurley, who turned out to be God in the end, and his prophetic Carver Edlund book series notably predicted quite a few events in the Winchesters’ lives.
Good Omens Season 2 is now streaming on Prime Video.
Source: cbr.com