Nobody Wants This Season 2: Everything We Know So Far

2 weeks ago

It turns out everybody wants this

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Nobody Wants This Season 2: Everything We Know So Far

Everybody (especially millennials) was talking about Nobody Wants This when it launched last autumn, Netflix’s new swoon-worthy rom com led by Kristen Bell and Adam Brody. The former is cynical, unlucky-in-love podcast host Joanne, while the latter is hip, young, unconventional rabbi Noah – who immediately hit it off. Think Fleabag’s forbidden romance with the Hot Priest, but we’re in LA instead of London and Hot Priest is instead Hot Rabbi.

Made up of 10 episodes, season 1 was met with critical and commercial acclaim, earning three nominations at the 77th Emmy Awards as well as the Golden Globes, SAG Awards and the Critics Choice Awards (Brody won at the latter), a 95 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and claiming the top spot in the Netflix weekly Top 10 chart.

Realising that in fact everybody want this, a month after its September launch, Netflix renewed Nobody Wants This for season 2. Here’s what’s in store for Joanne and Noah.

Adam Brody as Noah & Kristen Bell as Joanne in episode 110 of Nobody Wants This

Nobody Wants This Season 2: Plot, Cast, Release Date & More

Netflix officially confirmed a second season of Nobody Wants This was on the way just over two weeks after the first season launched. ‘Creating Nobody Wants This will forever be a career highlight for me,’ Erin Foster said on the news, having (loosely) based the TV show on her own inter-faith relationship with music exec Simon Tikhman.

‘The incredible cast, crew, producers, and executives all made this into the show it is today, and to experience viewers’ reactions to this series now that it’s out in the world has been more than anything I could have dreamed,’ Foster added.

The critically acclaimed rom com broke into the coveted top 10 in its first week of streaming and stayed there. And, most importantly, it ends on a cliffhanger – so Netflix might have been setting us up for a second go all along…

‘I’m so lucky to be able to continue this story,’ said Foster, ‘and to do it alongside [new executive producers and showrunners] Jenni Konner and Bruce Eric Kaplan, who I’ve been such a fan of since Girls. Justice for healthy relationships being the most romantic!’

What Is Nobody Wants This About?

Nobody Wants This is an American rom com centring on the unlikely romance between an outspoken, sex positive and agnostic podcast host, Joanne (Kristen Bell), and unconventional rabbi Noah (Adam Brody). In the first episode, they meet at a dinner party hosted by a mutual friend, and immediately hit it off – but both know it’s probably not a good idea to pursue a relationship between two people with such different outlooks on life – mixed in with all the obstacles a modern world throws in the face of budding romance.

Either way, the spark is just too compelling to ignore and the duo start dating – and try to continue in the face of social complications, sabotaging families, and meddling siblings: Joanne’s sister Morgan (Justine Lupe) and Noah’s brother Sasha (Timothy Simons).

Kristen Bell as Joanne & Justine Lupe as Morgan in episode 203 of Nobody Wants This

What Will Happen In Season 2?

Season 1 of Nobody Wants This left us on a cliffhanger: will Noah really abandon everything he’s worked for as a Rabbi to pursue a relationship with Joanne? It’s the big question at the heart of season 2.

‘It’s such an interesting part of every relationship,’ says Foster. ‘When you now have to see if you can make it work with each other’s friends, day-to-day routines, and how you handle the milestones that come in those first few months together from holidays, birthdays, and what you each think the future should look like.’

Brody tells Netflix’s Tudum he interpreted the ending of season 1 – his grand gesture in the parking lot after a solemn Joanne left the bat mitzvah knowing she isn’t ready to convert – as Noah promising Joanne, ‘I put you first. Everything else will work itself out, but I’m saying that you are my priority.’

Timothy Simons as Sasha, Jackie Tohn as Esther in episode 203 of Nobody Wants This

But, amid their serious cultural differences and Noah’s family’s disapproval of Joanne, ‘In the light of day, will he still feel that way?’ Brody asks. ‘I don’t know. It’s an open question.’

Luckily we now have season 2 to answer it. ‘I think that’s what the show can explore,’ Brody says. ‘What should he do? What should she do? What version of sacrifice is worth it? What constitutes growth, or what constitutes dimming yourself to be with someone else? It’s a sacrifice, but ideally, you grow together and you’re better for it — you don’t have to [lop] off a limb.’

Elsewhere, we know Joanne will be butting heads with her middle school nemesis, Morgan will still be hunting for love of her own, the Matzah Ballers will continue to play, and our fingers are crossed for more brutally sardonic quips from Sasha’s wife Esther (Jackie Tohn) as her relationship with Joanne blossoms (this first-look photo would have us believe so…).

Justine Lupe as Morgan, Kristen Bell as Joanne & Jackie Tohn as Esther in episode 202 of Nobody Wants This

The Cast

Nobody Wants This is led by Bell as Joanne and Brody as Noah, along with Succession star Justine Lupe as Joanne’s sister Morgan and Timothy Simons as Noah’s brother Sasha. That’s our core quartet, who are joined by Jackie Tohn, Stephanie Faracy, Michael Hitchcock, Tovah Feldshuh and more in supporting roles.

They are all expect to return in season 2, along with some fresh faces, including Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester (who is coincidentally Brody’s wife in real life). She will be joined by Miles Fowler, Alex Karpovsky and Arian Moayed in new roles.

Meester is set to guest star as Abby, Joanne’s middle school nemesis who is now an Instagram mommy influencer. And because she is married to Brody off-screen, some fun was had in the writers’ room, according to Foster. ‘Getting to create such a fun role for Leighton to play and getting to write her and Adam in a scene together was such a thrill for the writers’ room,’ she says.

Karpovsky meanwhile will star as Big Noah, an overly confident rabbi at Noah’s temple, and Fowler will be joining the Matzah Ballers as Lenny, who in season 2 will be set up on a date with Joanne’s divorce sister Morgan. Elsewhere in Morgan’s love life, season 2 will introduce us to Dr. Andy (Moayed), a self-proclaimed highly regarded psychotherapist who may well be the perfect match for Morgan. ‘Their pairing is so unexpected and fun to watch,’ Foster says.

Justine Lupe as Morgan & Arian Moayed as Andy in episode 203 of Nobody Wants This

The full cast we know so far includes:

Kristen Bell as Joanne
Adam Brody as Noah
Justine Lupe as Morgan
Timothy Simons as Sasha
Jackie Tohn as Esther
Michael Hitchcock as Henry
Stephanie Faracy as Lynne
Paul Ben-Victor as Ilan
Tovah Feldshuh as Bina
Leighton Meester as Abby
Miles Fowler as Lenny
Alex Karpovsky as Big Noah
Arian Moayed as Dr Andy
Sherry Cola as Ashley
D’Arcy Carden as Ryann

No confirmation just yet, but we also expect appearances from Shiloh Bearman as Miriam, Sasha and Esther’s teen daughter, Emily Arlook as Noah’s ex girlfriend Rebecca, and Stephen Tobolowsky as Rabbi Cohen, Temple Chai head rabbi on his way to retirement.

Adam Brody as Noah in episode 205 of Nobody Wants This

Is It Based On A True Story?

Nobody Wants This is loosely based on the marriage of creator Erin Foster, and how falling in love totally changed her perspective on humour. ‘This show is based on the only good decision I ever made: falling for a nice Jewish boy,’ Foster tells Netflix Tudum. ‘But I realised that being happy is way harder than being miserable – there’s nothing to complain about. So, I created this show based on all the ways that finding the right person can be so hard.’

Before you ask, no, Foster’s husband (Simon Tikhman) is not a rabbi – so the hurdle Erin and Simon’s romance has to hop over was much lower than that Joanne and Noah must scale in Nobody Wants This. ‘The show is not making any political statements because I’m not the person to make that statement,’ Foster warns. ‘I didn’t grow up Jewish, I converted as an adult. I wanted to tell a Jewish story, but from an outsider’s perspective for someone who chose Judaism.’

‘I was always a very cynical writer because I was a very cynical person,’ Erin adds, ‘and that’s where all my comedy came from and where my comedic perspective came from – failing at dating and failing at relationships and things blowing up and finding the humour in it.’

Speaking on Netflix’s Skip Intro podcast, Foster added: ‘For a decade I had been writing from whatever was happening in my life. And every project had a real cynicism to it, because I felt cynical about relationships and myself and love. It wasn’t very hopeful because that’s just the place that I was in. It was always about a woman sabotaging herself and self-destructing in some way and choosing the wrong things. And that was totally working for me in my career. So in some ways it was like art was imitating life and I was on this rinse and repeat situation in my life. And if I was on a bad date, I would think, “Oh, this is going to be really good to write about.” I wouldn’t even care that my life was crumbling. I was excited to use it. And so when I met Simon, who is my husband now, honestly, I thought he was kind of killing my vibe.’

Before Nobody Wants This, Foster wrote for TV show The New Normal and created Barely Famous; since 2017, she has also been the creative head of Bumble along with her sister, Sara. But falling in love with her now-husband completely changed Foster’s perspective on romance: being happy and fulfilled can also be funny, Foster realised. ‘This show really represents how I view love now, which is so different than how I viewed it before,’ she says. ‘Being in a really beautiful, healthy, fun relationship – it made me soften some of my cynicism.’

Miles Fowler as Lenny, Adam Brody as Noah & Kristen Bell as Joanne in episode 201 of Nobody Wants This

Nobody Wants This Season 2 Release Date

Nobody Wants This season 2 will launch on 23 October 2025 (at 8am here in the UK if you are keen to watch ASAP).

All 10 episodes of Nobody Wants This are streaming exclusively on Netflix.

Nobody Wants This Season 2: Everything We Know So Far