On a day when we could all use some good news, the folks at Amazon have blessed us with a heavenly bit of casting: Jon Hamm is set to play an angel in the streaming service's upcoming TV adaptation of "Good Omens."

Hamm, who starred on "Mad Men" and most recently appeared in a recurring role on "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," will return to TV in the role of the archangel Gabriel, a part that has been expanded significantly from the original book, co-written by Neil Gaiman and the late Terry Pratchett. In a statement, Gaiman explained the thinking behind that decision.

According to the author, he and Pratchett first dreamed up the concept of giving the 1990 book's angels a bigger platform when they were working on a sequel. Though that tome never materialized, they continued with the idea while penning a "Good Omens" movie. That project also foundered.

"So when, almost thirty years later, I started writing 'Good Omens' for TV, one thing I knew was that our angels would have to be in there," Gaiman explained in his statement. "The leader of these angels is Gabriel. He is everything that Aziraphale isn't: he's tall, good-looking, charismatic and impeccably dressed. We were fortunate that Jon Hamm was available, given that he is already all of these things without even having to act. We were even more fortunate that he's a fan of the books and a remarkable actor."

"I read 'Good Omens' almost twenty years ago," Hamm said in his own statement. "I thought it was one of the funniest, coolest books I'd ever read. It was also, obviously, unfilmable. Two months ago Neil sent me the scripts, and I knew I had to be in it."

"Good Omens" stars Michael Sheen as the angel Aziraphale and David Tennant as the demon Crowley. It's expected to debut on Amazon with a six-episode run sometime in 2019.

[via: Empire]