Netflix Renews ‘Nobody Wants This,’ The Show That Broke The Rom-Com Mold

Everyone has been talking about Netflix’s Jewish rom-com Nobody Wants This since its September 26 premiere. That kiss, the chemistry, the hilarity, and the fact that this show is centered around a healthy relationship!

In the typical girl-meets-boy Hollywood tale, the two meet, fall in love, and typically he does something off-putting to lose the girl which prompts him to then have to fight to get her back.

This has led to generations of women believing that love is supposed to hurt and that we are supposed to take men back after they do whatever it is that they do to damage the relationship. In this story, no one does anything to hurt anyone and the example of what love should look like is a great example for all relationships. I wish I had watched a story like this in sex ed class back in the day. The mistakes I could’ve avoided...

In Nobody Wants This, an agnostic-shiksa-slash-podcast-host Joanne (Kristen Bell) and an unconventional rabbi Noah (Adam Brody) meet at a mutual friend’s dinner party and immediately form an undeniable connection. Quickly, they’re forced to contend with differing life views on top of all the usual obstacles to modern love as her sister Morgan (Justine Lupe) and his brother Sasha (Timothy Simons) attempt to help their respective siblings navigate this newfound relationship.

But they find their way until the finale when an obstacle threatens to end their relationship. But again, no one hurts anyone with any intention. There is no betrayal. Instead, viewers binge-watched as two people fell in love and found a healthy and respectful way to communicate their needs.

Immediately, this series became what everyone wanted to watch and talk about. It quickly rose to No. 2 on the English TV List its first week on the platform behind the hit Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story with 10.3 million views. Noteworthy buzz pushed Joanne and Noah’s love story to No. 1 with 15.9 million views in its second week.

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Fans have since speculated and hoped that Netflix would renew the ten-episode show. Today it was announced that there will be a second season set to premiere in 2025! Mazel tov!

Bell, Brody, Lupe, and Simons will return alongside Stephanie Faracy, Michael Hitcock, Tovah Feldshuh, Paul Ben-Victor, Emily Arlook, Jackie Tohn, Sherry Cola, and Shiloh Berman. Season two brings Jenni Konner (Girls, Deli Boys, Welcome to Chippendales) and Bruce Eric Kaplan (Girls, No Good Deed, Six Feet Under) as executive producers and showrunners. Nora Silver (Deli Boys, Welcome to Chippendales, Single Drunk Female) also joins as executive producer.

Creator and executive producer Erin Foster said of the news that bringing this story to life will forever be a career highlight for her. “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. I’m so lucky to be able to continue this story, and to do it alongside Jenni Konner and Bruce Eric Kaplan, who I've been such a fan of since Girls...Justice for healthy relationships being the most romantic!”

In an interview just before the series premiered, Foster told me that falling in love with her husband inspired her to write the Jewish rom-com. She was motivated to write the pilot script because she lived the experience. She used creative license to raise the stakes by making Brody’s character a rabbi, but the real-life detail she did not change was that she fell in love with a Jewish man.

“I was 35 and single in L.A. and figured that it wasn’t going to happen for me, or maybe I was going to be a great second wife to someone and a stepmom. I was still making the same bad relationship decisions at 35 that I was making at 22 and I felt like I was never going to end this cycle,” Foster admitted, adding that she’d found peace with her single status.

“Then, Simon came into my life and I didn't expect it. He was my perfect person, which doesn’t mean we didn't have conflict. He challenged me in all the right ways. He wasn’t what I expected. When I converted to Judaism it was an interesting process. I grew up in L.A. with a lot of Jewish friends and the idea of converting to me was like, ‘Sure, whatever. I’ll be Jewish. All my friends are Jewish.’ But, converting for someone who has immigrant parents from the Soviet Union, who fled because they were Jewish, means something different.”

Bell also talked about taking on this project. She had taken three years off work to stay home with her children but was ready to get back to work when she read Foster’s script. She told me she grew up in an entirely Jewish community in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan. “I was one of two gentiles. I begged to have a Bat Mitzvah. Almost all my friends growing up were Jewish.”

Bell was attached to the project before Brody and knew he’d be the perfect Noah. “I was particularly engaged because the rom-com perspectives were not from 22 year-olds which feels very modernized. The second I read it I thought this would be fun.”

Konner and Kaplan both expressed their excitement to join the series for the upcoming season. “It's a dream to be working on Nobody Wants This. Erin is the rare creator with a crystal clear voice and a genuinely collaborative spirit. I am a true fan of Erin's show and also feel so lucky to be back in a room with two of my favorites, Bruce Kaplan and Sarah Heyward from Girls,” said Konner.

“I am excited beyond belief to be a part of Season 2 of Nobody Wants This, created by the hilarious Erin Foster. It is such a unique and beautiful show and I am already having the best time working on it,” added Kaplan.

Romantics the world over welcome another season of this mold-breaking series. May Joanne and Noah be a reminder for us all that the road to love doesn’t have to be painful because someone was cruel in some way. It can just be challenging because, well life is hard sometimes, but if we take their lead and communicate in healthy ways, we too can find happily ever after.