‘Good Omens’ Star Nina Sosanya Worked in a Coffee Shop in Real Life: ‘It Didn’t Last Long’ (Exclusive)

Good Omens Season 2 introduced fans to several new characters, including small business owners Nina (Nina Sosanya) and Maggie (Maggie Service). The two work in shops adjacent to Aziraphale’s (Michael Sheen) bookstore, and it may not be surprising to hear that there was some authenticity behind Sosanya’s performance. In an interview before the SAG strike began, she confirmed that she has worked in a real-life coffee shop before – albeit briefly.

“I have worked in a coffee shop before, I have to tell you that it don’t last very long because I was not very good at it,” Sosanya said with a laugh. The new season centers around the street with Aziraphale’s bookshop stand, which is also home to Nina’s coffee shop, Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death. Across the street is a record store that has been in Maggie’s family for generations. The season fuses the petty politics of local business owners with a cosmological struggle for dominance and order.

Sosanya and Service are not newcomers to the series – both appeared in Season 1 as nuns from the Chattering Order of St. Beryl, the secret Satanic order that introduced the Antichrist into the world. Service described the recasting process as “joyful.”

“You had to switch your head up a bit because we were seeing a whole different side of the universe,” she remarked, “but what a treat – what a rare gift to be able to be a Satanic nun and a record-loving, lipstick-wearing, SoHo-dwelling person. It’s just been completely delightful.”

Sosanya added that the recasting in this season played to the strength of British actors since most of them are educated for acting on stage before they get on screen. She said: “There is a certain theatricality to it and I quite like that you get a feeling of a company, like a sort of repertory company… I think also, audiences – I personally quite like when I see it on stage – seeing different actors or the same actor taking on different characters.” Asked if other TV productions should take up this approach, she said: “I think it would be quite an interesting way forward.”

Good Omens Season 2 is streaming now on Prime Video in the U.S. The original novel is available in print, digital, and audiobook formats.