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NEW YORK, July 28 (UPI) -- Good Omens stars Maggie Service and Nina Sosanya say they are excited to return as completely different characters in Season 2 of the celestial comedy, which premieres on Prime Video on Friday. In Season 1, the actresses were cast as members of the "chattering order of satanic nuns" charged with safeguarding the anti-Christ as a baby before angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and demon Crowley (David Tennant) intervened.
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They secretly switched infants because of their shared appreciation for humanity and desire to see the balance of good and evil maintained.
"We're always going to love the nuns," Service told UPI in a recent Zoom interview conducted before the Screen Actors Guild strike earlier this month.
"It was great, great hilarious days on set," the actress said of depicting the Season 1 villains. "But equally, how amazing is it to have characters written for us out of thin air? And we get to keep telling stories within the Good Omens universe. It's been a really rare treat."
Season 2 finds the actresses playing cleverly named shopkeepers and neighbors of bookstore owner Aziraphale.
"Nina is a slightly chippier, mintier version of me, I suppose," Sosanya said.
"She's a bit reserved. She's not as emotionally available or brave as some other people across the road. She runs a coffee shop, which has a revolving door of people she never has to get too close to."
Maggie is the opposite of Nina in terms of temperament and her comfort level in expressing her feelings.
"Maggie is deeply open with her emotions -- almost to a fault -- just because she is possibly not quite sure where they should all go, where that energy should all go," Service said.
"She definitely knows what she wants, but she doesn't quite know how to get there."
When viewers first meet her, Maggie doesn't know Aziraphale's true identity.
She regards him only as kindly landlord Mr. Fell, who ignores that she can't pay the rent on her record store because hardly anyone but him buys music on vinyl anymore.
"To Maggie, he's just the nicest man in the world -- the kindest, kindest man, who has let her whole family since the 1920s rent some space and sell our musical records," Service said.
Nina has a different opinion of Mr. Fell.
"She sees Mr. Fell across the road as a fussy bloke, who runs a shop quite badly because no one seems to go in or out," Sosanya said.
"And Crowley, she is deeply, deeply suspicious of," the actress said of Aziraphale's only frequent visitor. "She is suspicious of most people. That's how she operates. She's also suspicious of Maggie and her motives because [Nina] has quite a low opinion of herself."
Service said her kind, effervescent character is drawn to Nina and instantly wants to be friends, despite their differences.
"It's a beautiful dynamic to play," she added.
For the actresses, creating entertainment that asks big questions about life and death, and whether humanity is worth saving, is keenly rewarding.
"It's wonderful and those questions are endlessly mineable and I think it connects so beautifully to the fans who love it," Service said.
"It feels like you are part of a jewelry box of a world and it's a very special place to spend time."
Sosanya added, "It can be very light and sparkly and funny and warm and very, very profound suddenly at the same time."
Also starring in the screen adaptation of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's best-selling fantasy novel are Jon Hamm, Doon Mackichan, Gloria Obianyo, Miranda Richardson, Liz Carr, Quelin Sepulveda and Shelley Conn.
