And the story of some wild auditions.
We’re all a little weepy nowadays with The Good Place getting ready to start its final season, which may be definitive proof that we are not in the Good Place. And this new video posted by NBC — a behind-the-scenes featurette with interviews from Mike Schur and the cast spliced with footage from the show’s now-legendary audition process.
It’s those auditions that make this video in particular worth watching. When The Good Place was cast, as those involved have explained many times, the premise of the show was so secret that the auditions were done with fake scripts meant to evoke the vibe of the character they were looking for.
Janet, for instance, was cast with a reading for a character who worked on some sort of hotline for broken dolls. Here, we get to see a bit of that bizarre audition, which D’Arcy Carden, by the way, absolutely nails.
And this video really highlights how daringly strange the premise of this show is, and the potential it had to be either treacly or absolutely boring. We’re extremely grateful it managed to dodge both bullets while constantly, tenaciously reinventing itself.
The Good Place premieres for its final season September 27 in the U.S., and I’m not crying, you’re crying. The season will likely appear on Netflix in Australia, although a release date hasn’t yet been set.