‘Nobody Wants This’ Is Going Deeper—But Staying Delicate—In Season Two

From the moment it premiered last fall, Nobody Wants This felt like the platonic ideal of a millennial rom-com. It brought together The OC’s Adam Brody and Veronica Mars star Kristen Bell for a warm rabbi/shiksa podcaster meet-cute. Mishegas ensued as Rabbi Noah and Joanne tried to figure out how to integrate their very different Los Angeles lifestyles and families. The series, loosely sparked by creator Erin Foster’s own interfaith romance and conversion to Judaism, was a hit for Netflix. It also inspired a steady stream of TikToks—from besotted odes to crying to reenactments.

“I’m not gonna lie: I was watching all the TikToks,” Foster says. “I kind of wanted to see how the show resonated with people—to strike a balance between giving people the things that they liked, but not letting that dictate every decision that we made.” There were some specific stories she wanted to tell in the first season—like Joanne getting the ick from Noah’s sweet attempts to make a good impression on her family. “That was really important to me, to watch her kind of self-sabotage and see him refuse to let her do that,” Foster says. “I really loved watching TikToks of women saying that this show was about making healthy love fun and exciting and sexy.”

Season two, which drops October 23—squarely between Rosh Hashanah and Hanukkah—focuses on the critical months after the initial chemical reaction, when a romantic relationship gets real. How much time are you going to spend together? Do you like each other’s friends? Can you merge your families? For agnostic Joanne and devout Noah, the huge “will they or won’t they” is: Will Joanne convert, and if she doesn’t, will Noah be able to keep his place within the temple?

Beyond Joanne and Noah, season two also offered the chance to dig deeper into standout characters, like Joanne’s sister Morgan (Justine Lupe), Noah’s brother Sasha (Timothy Simons), and his wife Esther (Jackie Tohn), who appeared to be edging toward a low-key love triangle last time around.

Erin Simkin/Netflix.

Two venerable Girls alumni, Jenni Konner and Bruce Eric Kaplan, joined Nobody Wants This in season two as showrunners. “No one is trying to reinvent anything,” Konner says reassuringly. “We’re not going to shoot in black and white this year, or do a musical.” They both came in as fans. As Kaplan told VF last year, “I love the heroine in that she’s imperfect but amazing. And I love watching this other person celebrate her exactly as she is.” It doesn’t hurt that Konner and Kaplan are both Jewish—since season one drew some edged criticism of its Jewish female characters.

“I was honestly very surprised, and I was disappointed,” Foster says of the criticism. “Find me another Jewish rom-com showing Jewish people in such a positive light, showing the Jewish faith in such a positive light. It’s something that I take very seriously as someone who converted and felt so welcomed by the Jewish community.” She continues, “With the heaviness of what’s going on in the world around the Jewish faith, to have a lighthearted, sweet, happy show that reminds people how beautiful Judaism is—don’t find something wrong with it! Take the win, you know?”