“Nobody Wants This” centers on the love story between a rabbi and an atheist, who, despite their electric chemistry, struggle to reckon with their conflicting worldviews and communities.
As Joanne (Kristen Bell), an outspoken sex podcaster, and Noah (Adam Brody), a rabbi freshly out of a long-term relationship, bumble through the start of what their friends and families see as a relationship that won’t last, their minds are full of question marks for what a future together might look like — which is precisely what attracted Bell to the Netflix romcom series.
“When you’re reading a script and they pose a question that you feel like is a minefield of storylines, that’s a reason to do it,” Bell told TheWrap. “There’s so much to discover, and it’s not that there was any particular answer, because it depends on the two people whether or not this is worth it … but just the discovery of that, I thought, was going to be very interesting and very entertaining.”
For Brody, Joanne and Noah’s predicament is very much a “real-world” and “relatable conflict” that he finds “relatable to people on both sides of perhaps this issue,” and can even extend beyond religion. “There are a lot of differences of lifestyle,” Brody told TheWrap. “This same thing could be political, and it would work, I think, just as well.”
The situation laid out in the series is more than relatable to series creator Erin Foster (“Daddy Issues,” “Barely Famous”), whose experience of converting to Judaism before marrying her husband, Simon Tikhman (who is not a rabbi) served as inspiration for “Nobody Wants This.”
While Foster joked she took creative liberties when creating the show to avoid ending up “divorced and pissing people off,” she revealed much of the show’s emotional arcs are “autobiographical,” as she wanted conflicts to feel “real and lived in,” rather than manufactured.
“Being a modern woman today, where you are ambitious and career-focused, but then you meet someone who’s a little bit more old-fashioned and a little bit more conservative and has parents who are still married and has different expectations, has never really been exposed to divorce — those things are all really real,” Foster said.
While Foster had grown up joking that she would convert if she found a Jewish husband, the gravity of the situation sunk in when she was taking conversion classes, saying “when you actually go through the process and you realize you’re changing your religion for a person, and if you were to ever divorce, you would need to continue to be Jewish and raise your kids that way. “It’s a big responsibility — It’s not something to be taken lightly,” she said.
With these differing backgrounds being “enough to break two people up,” especially for a couple that meets in their 30s, Foster heightened the stakes as Joanne weighs becoming a rabbi’s wife, and her own responsibility to the community.
Bell was immediately cast as Joanne after Netflix bought “Nobody Wants This,” and was the first one to suggest Brody. “From the very get-go, she was like, ‘it should be Adam Brody,’” Foster said. “I still wanted a chance to audition people, because I had this opportunity to look at every single cute Jewish actor, maybe discover someone, have someone really unexpected in that role, there was no one where we felt, ‘Oh, it’s him.’”
By the time Foster called in Brody, she recalled him being the “obvious” choice as he brought a warmth and confidence to the role that was needed to match Joanne. “He has to be someone who … believes in what he believes in and also be a commanding presence,” Foster said. “I hate watching shows where you have a strong female character and the nice guy in real life would never be able to handle a girl like her — he would never be able to go toe-to-toe with her.”
Foster admitted she lucked out with their on-screen chemistry, which perfectly suited what Bell calls an “electric chemistry” between Joanne and Noah, which Brody said might be charged by their differing perspectives. “They’ve both been — him particularly — very steep in a particular world, but even though her experiences might be more wide ranging, I think are still of a type and with a type,” he said. “They’re both very fresh perspectives and types of people to each other.”
Their relationship is instantly the talk of the town among Joanne and Noah’s families, with Noah’s mother labeling her a “shiksa” and her entrance into his life — and synagogue — prompting backlash from his sister-in-law, Esther (Jackie Tohn), who remains close friends with his ex-girlfriend (Emily Arlook), who was eager to achieve her dream of becoming a head rabbi’s wife.
“[It’s] an exploration into somewhat foundational familial values and/or what should and shouldn’t be,” Bell said. “Is the world black and white, or can the world just be entirely grey?”
Their relationship also doesn’t seem viable to Joanne’s sister, Morgan (Justine Lupe), who together host a podcast largely focused on sex and relationships, though Joanne’s stories become a bit less spicy when she starts dating Noah. Foster similarly pulled from her relationship with her sister, Sara, who host a podcast together and founded clothing brand Favorite Daughter together.
While Foster said her sister and husband are “best friends” in real life, she wanted to explore how Joanne’s growth into a healthy, mature relationship could leave Morgan feeling like she’s left behind.
“When there’s a person in a family or in a friend group who always picks the wrong person, or always makes mistakes or always self-sabotages, and then that person picks someone great for them, sometimes the people around that person don’t support it,” Foster said. “It’s hard when you take a left turn and make a different choice; it can be hard for the people around you.”
With Noah’s brother, Sasha (Timothy Simons), seemingly the only one on board with their relationship, Brody noted the backlash to Joanne and Noah’s relationship might go deeper than just being close-minded. “Deep down, they have their own personal reasons that have more to do with themselves than Noah and Joanne, in the way they saw their lives working out.”
“Nobody wants them to be together — Nobody wants this,” Bell said. “The real discovery throughout the full 10 episodes is, do they really want it?
“Nobody Wants This” is now streaming on Netflix.
