Nobody Wants This season two has now been out in the world for two weeks, marking just enough time for the cast and creators to get back together and break it all down.
That’s exactly what happened on Friday afternoon, as Kristen Bell, Adam Brody, Justine Lupe, Timothy Simons and Jackie Tohn joined creator Erin Foster, co-showrunners Jenni Konner and Bruce Eric Kaplan and music supervisor Manish Raval for a FYC event in L.A., as they dove into the newly released season. The show follows the unlikely relationship between agnostic podcaster Joanne (Bell) and rabbi Noah (Brody), as Foster revealed her specific intentions with Brody’s character this time around.
“Noah was such a green flag all of season one, but I do think that something we talked about in season two is — not to take it too seriously, but — you do have a bit of a responsibility when you’re making a romantic comedy in how you represent what relationships should be like. And there was something that sort of didn’t sit right with me that Noah came across like this perfect guy, because that isn’t realistic,” Foster explained, then quickly making an exception for her own husband and Brody himself.
She continued, “It was something that we talked about that was definitely important to me, to show Noah as an imperfect boyfriend, or just because he’s perfect for Joanne doesn’t mean he was perfect for the women who came before her. Sometimes the person you fall for that’s great with you wasn’t great for someone else; that’s how relationships work and I did want to show him in that light.”
The conversation also touched on bringing in Lupe’s former Succession co-star Arian Moayed as her love interest — which the actress credited Konner with coming up with as “I kind of thought Succession was off the table, like I thought we can’t have a crossover” — and about highlighting Los Angeles in the show. Foster explained shooting in L.A. actually came about as part of Bell agreeing to star, as she told the team her kids are in school and she wasn’t going to work in another city. “We’re like, ‘Oh no, we have to work from home,’” Foster joked, with Konner adding, “By the way, I hope that you inspire other actors to do that,” in using their leverage to keep production local.
Manish Raval, Jenni Konner, Bruce Kaplan, Erin Foster, Justine Lupe, Timothy Simons, Jackie Tohn, Adam Brody and Kristen Bell
Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix
The group went on to gush about Brody’s wife Leighton Meester guest starring this season, and Brody revealed some of his hopes for season three while speaking about his close relationship with Simons, who plays his brother Sasha.
“I’ve been a fan for a long time, but we’ve had the best time together,” Brody said. “When I saw the second season, I called Erin and I said, ‘I really liked it and I have just a few thoughts for maybe season three I want to whisper in your ear.’ I don’t know if they’re gonna be manifested or not, but I was like, ‘No. 1, could I have more scenes with Tim?’”
Foster teased, “And we said no,” before revealing that Bell and Brody didn’t do a chemistry read with each other, but did with the actors auditioning to play their siblings. “When it came down to who was going to play Sasha, there were a couple other people, I’m sorry Tim, that we also liked. And we were like, ‘This is hard to choose, there’s great people,’” Foster said. “I remember I said to Adam, ‘Who do you feel the most like you would be best friends with?’ I said, ‘The most important thing to me is who do you feel the most relaxing conversation, like back and forth with?’ And he was like, ‘Hands down, Tim.’” Simons didn’t know Brody has endorsed him in that way, leading Tohn to exclaim, “That’s cute as shit!”
Nobody Wants This season two is now streaming on Netflix.
