‘Good Omens’ Season 3 Debuts With the Franchise’s Lowest Rotten Tomatoes Score Yet

The ending that millions of fans had been waiting three years for has finally arrived, but ‘Good Omens’ is not going out with the critical fanfare it once commanded. The fantasy series from Prime Video, which follows the celestial odd-couple pairing of angel Aziraphale and demon Crowley, has reached its finale under extraordinary and deeply complicated circumstances, and the critical reception reflects every bit of that turbulence.

Before its May 13 premiere, reviews began rolling in that set an unwelcome milestone for the beloved franchise. The show opened with its lowest critic score for the series thus far, with Season 1 having scored an 85% based on 98 reviews, while Season 2 scored an 88% based on 64 reviews. For a show that spent years earning the affection of critics and audiences alike, the dip is hard to ignore, even if the full picture has yet to settle.

How a Neil Gaiman Controversy Reshaped the Entire Season

The story of how ‘Good Omens’ arrived at this point is inseparable from the real-world events that rocked its production. In 2024, Gaiman was accused of sexual assault and abuse by five women, and by October of that year, Gaiman left production of Season 3, which was then reduced from a full season of TV to just one episode.

Filming on ‘Good Omens’ Season 3 in Scotland was halted in September after Tortoise Media reported that multiple women had accused Gaiman of sexual assault, with a fifth woman coming forward later. The production had barely begun before it was frozen in place, leaving the future of the entire series uncertain for months.

While Gaiman had contributed to the writing of the ‘Good Omens’ series finale, the official press statement confirmed he would not be working on the production itself, and he is no longer listed among the show’s executive producers for the final episode. The writing credits for the finale were ultimately shared among multiple collaborators in his absence.

Unlike previous seasons, which were written by Gaiman and directed by Douglas MacKinnon, Season 3 is written by Gaiman, Michael Marshall Smith, and Peter Atkins, with Rachel Talalay stepping in as director. The shift behind the camera is one of the most significant structural changes in the show’s history.

What the Critics Are Actually Saying About the Finale

The critical consensus is genuinely divided, and that divide maps almost perfectly onto how the episode was produced. Metro.co.uk’s Tom Percival wrote that ‘Good Omens’ Season 3 was an overstuffed mess, arguing the premise might have worked had it had room to breathe. The complaint about pacing and compression has echoed across multiple outlets reviewing the finale.

Collider noted that the finale loses a lot of the nuance the series had become known for, with the critic observing it is a shame that after all this time, this is the ending that ‘Good Omens’ gets, as it most certainly should have had a grander farewell. For a show celebrated for its wit and careful character work, rushing those qualities into 90 minutes was always going to be a steep ask.

Not every review arrived with disappointment, however. Inverse argued that while the plot is rapid-fire, it eventually gets where it needs to be, with a series of tough conversations and plenty of discussions about the nature of humans and good and evil, concluding that giving Crowley and Aziraphale the ending they were owed after the Season 2 finale was ultimately the point.

RogerEbert.com acknowledged that despite its flaws, the final installment still holds firm to the idea that love, in all its forms, is a radical act. It is a view shared by enough critics to keep the score from collapsing entirely.

Aziraphale and Crowley’s Rushed Road to Resolution

At the heart of everything that works and everything that doesn’t in Season 3 is the relationship between Michael Sheen’s Aziraphale and David Tennant’s Crowley. Season 2’s finale had Crowley finally confessing his feelings for Aziraphale, but Metatron’s offer to go to Heaven was too good for Aziraphale to pass, so he didn’t agree with Crowley’s offer to run away together. That unresolved heartbreak set the emotional stakes for the finale.

The final season takes place several years after the Season 2 finale, with Aziraphale now serving as the Supreme Archangel and Crowley sad, depressed, and wandering the streets of Soho. Heaven’s plans for the Second Coming begin to unravel, forcing the estranged pair back together.

The condensed time limit makes it impossible to enjoy the witty banter for as long as fans would want, but David Tennant and Michael Sheen deliver their signature chemistry that has, through three seasons, glued the show together. The performances, by every critical account, are the reason the finale holds together at all.

What the Score Really Means for a Show That Deserved Better

There is a broader and sadder story underneath the Rotten Tomatoes numbers. The fantasy series had been a hit so far, with critics and audiences praising the script, Michael Sheen and David Tennant’s performances, as well as the chemistry and slow-burn romance. That goodwill did not disappear overnight, but it has been tested by circumstances entirely outside the control of the cast and crew who showed up to finish the job.

Production on ‘Good Omens’ Season 3 was originally announced back in December 2023, with the show also bringing a serendipitous conversation from almost 35 years ago to life between the late Terry Pratchett and Gaiman, where they mapped out what happens next to the characters in the world of their internationally best-selling novel. That origin story, rooted in friendship and creative joy, makes the chaos that followed feel especially cruel.

The still-positive Rotten Tomatoes score signals how well the team did with what they had to bring Aziraphale and Crowley’s journey to a close. A messy score under difficult circumstances is not a failure of the show so much as a record of everything it had to survive just to exist at all. Whether the finale gave Crowley and Aziraphale the sendoff they truly deserved is a question only fans who watched it can really answer, so share your verdict on the finale in the comments.