‘Good Place’ star D’Arcy Carden is happy to indulge any and all fan theories about the show
“The Good Place,” the wildly inventive NBC sitcom that examines the afterlife with a mixture of moral complexity and adolescent humor, loves to keep its fans guessing. And its devotees, in turn, can’t wait to speculate on what might happen next.
D’Arcy Carden, the delightful comic actress who plays Janet, the show’s all-knowing programmed guide (“not a robot”), is happy to indulge any and all guesses. But, in a video interview with The Times, she says fans shouldn’t interpret her enthusiasm as a signal that they’ve discovered the truth.
“Basically, I have to react to everything like, ‘Hmm … that’s a good idea,’ ” Carden says, a response she gave a couple of times during the interview. (We like to try to figure out the show too.)
When we last saw Janet, she and Ted Danson’s sympathetic demon Michael were monitoring the humans as they set about making the most of their second chances on Earth. (That’s probably what’s happening. But with this show, you never quite know for sure.) Janet has a special rooting interest as she’s fallen in love with Jason, one of the humans,
Judging from Janet’s serious facial expressions, things might not be going so well with Blake Bortles’ No. 1 fan.
“He’s kind of a dumb idiot, isn’t he?” Carden says, laughing. “He’s probably not going to make the best decisions.”
The fact that Janet (“not a robot”) possesses these human feelings stands as a marked contrast from where the character started on the show’s first episode.
“Emotions and judgment … there’s a lot more to her right now,” Carden says. “Which is fun as an actor. But it’s also harder … to know what the line is, to know how to balance her, I’m just discovering as we go.”
Carden sifted through all the speculation about “The Good Place,” and also explained why, if she could have been on any classic TV show, she would have loved to be the seventh friend on “Friends.” You can discover all of this by watching the full video below. And, D’Arcy, we’ll always be there for you.
Twitter: @glennwhipp
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