One of the best characters currently on TV is that of Janet (played by the magnificently magical D’Arcy Carden), the artificial intelligence that works as something of a personal assistant to Michael (Ted Danson), the neighborhood architect, on the NBC series The Good Place. Janet is eternally optimistic and always willing to help neighborhood residents Eleanor (Kristen Bell), Chidi (William Jackson Harper), Tahani (Jameela Jamil) and Jason (Manny Jacinto), with often hilarious results.
During this 1-on-1 phone interview with Collider, actress D’Arcy Carden talked about how little she knew about The Good Place when she signed on, why working with show creator Mike Schur is a dream come true, what she’s most enjoyed about Season 2, how much fun she has getting to play other sides of Janet, Bad Place Janet vs. Good Place Janet, and how fans of the series will react, at the end of the season. She also talked about her role on the upcoming HBO series Barry, from writer/director/actor Bill Hader, and how lucky she feels to be a part of such high quality projects.
Collider: First of all, I absolutely love this show! It’s my favorite comedy on TV, on any network, and I’m so glad that Season 2 is as brilliant as the first season!
D’ARCY CARDEN: That’s so great to hear! That is so awesome, honestly! That’s so cool! Thanks!
Typically, I feel like it’s pretty easy to figure out where a story is headed, but this show really threw me. I did not see what happened at the end of Season 1 coming, at all. How did you react when you found out exactly what show you were a part of, and what was most surprising about that reveal for you?
CARDEN: The thing that was strange about getting this job was that it was all a secret. It was shrouded in secrecy. I didn’t know what the show was, until I got it. There was no information about the show and no scripts, until I was cast in the show. Even then, we knew the first half of the season, but (executive producers) Mike Schur and Drew Goddard weren’t telling us the second half of the season. We definitely knew that a surprise was coming, but even then, we couldn’t guess it. The audience was surprised, but you guys didn’t really have a reason to suspect that a big twist was coming. We knew a big twist was coming, and we still didn’t get it. I think maybe a lot of people thought, “Maybe they’re in the Bad Place,” but the details made it so exciting, like the fact that it was Michael that orchestrated the whole thing and he was really going out on a limb, trying out this new type of torture. You never would have guessed all of that. I was floored! I was excited and happy, but also really heartbroken because I loved the characters so much. I’ve told William Jackson Harper this, a million times, but I love Chidi so deeply. I just feel for him and love him, so I was feeling really sad about Chidi being in the Bad Place. That really broke my heart! I kept saying, “What about Chidi? He’s good!” Mostly, I just kept thinking, “I cannot wait! I want to be in the room when everybody watches the end!”
Since you really had no idea what show you were actually on, and you even auditioned initially with fake sides, what was the appeal of this show for you?
CARDEN: It’s so easy to answer that – Mike Schur. I’m such a huge Mike Schur fan, and I’ve been a fan of his for years. I’ve loved everything he’s made that I’ve gotten to watch, but I also have friends and acquaintances who have worked with him, over the years, and people love working for him. He is a wonderful human being who just also happens to be a genius storyteller. He’s just a good dude to work with and work for, and to be around. I love, love, love being around him. Going into the audition, knowing that he was gonna be in there, I was nervous, but within seconds, I was like, “This guy is the coolest!” He immediately said something that put me at ease, and then he was casual and made me feel relaxed. It almost made it worse because then I wanted the job that much more.
Because Season 1 was so brilliant, I was worried that Season 2 wouldn’t have that same magic because you’d already know what was going on, but that’s so not the case. What have you most enjoyed about Season 2, and what feels most different about it?
CARDEN: One of the things that I admire and love so much about the writers and Mike Schur is that they don’t draw things out. The first few episodes of this season, that could have been the entire season. You would have been happy and satisfied, watching the core four figure it out slowly, over many, many episodes, but we got that in the first couple of episodes. I feel like the writers and Mike really respect the audience in a way where they play to our intelligence. They’re not gonna dumb it down for us, which I think is really cool and rare. I can’t even tell you how excited I get when I receive the scripts, the night before the table read. They always blow me away. I’m always laughing and I have no idea where the story is gonna go, other than being given big brushstrokes for the season. It’s so fun to watch the details unravel. Personally, selfishly, knowing where Janet gets to go and the fact that she’s getting a little more in tough with her emotions, is very, very, very exciting. If you have been surprised by the first few episodes, I cannot wait for you to see the next half. I don’t want to build it up too much, but you’re in for a wild ride.
How much fun is it to get to see new sides of Janet, this season?
CARDEN: The only way I can speak about it is in the cheesiest terms. I feel so grateful and I feel like it’s such a gift. As an actor, there’s nothing I could want more than to get to play a character that I love, and then the writers also give me all these different sides of her to play with. Every inch of this show and job is a dream come true, from the people that I work with to the character that I play to the words that I get to say to the crew and the costumes. It’s too dreamy. We’re very, very spoiled on this show. I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.
How does playing the Bad Place Janet compare to playing the Good Place Janet?
CARDEN: The fun thing with Bad Janet, the blonde, I remember in the first meeting, the day after I got cast, Mike Schur and Drew Goddard brought her up and explained, “And then, there will be a Bad Janet that comes and does this.” I remember that it wasn’t clear if I would be playing her, or a different person would be playing her, and I was crossing every finger, hoping that I would get to play her. I had a fear that I wasn’t gonna get to play her. For me, that was the best. It was so exciting to get to play someone the exact opposite of sweet little confident Janet.
Now that we know more about what’s going on, we get to see more of the dynamic between Janet and Michael, which means you get to work even more with Ted Danson. What’s it been like to work with him?
CARDEN: He’s so great! I love him so, so much. There’s not enough great things to say about her. He is a wonderful human being, and he is such a special, awesome actor. The thing that always blows me away about Ted is that he’s an actor who has been doing this for decades, but he comes to work giddy and excited to be acting. I feel like a lot of veteran actors don’t necessarily have that anymore, or don’t have to have that, but he is just as excited as Manny [Jacinto], Jameela [Jamil], Will [Harper] and I. This is our first big show, so we’re obviously giddy and excited, but he and Kristen [Bell] both come in happy to work and excited to be there. They are actors that love to act and love to be around other actors. To have Kristen and Ted be the leaders of our little gang, it’s everything. They’re such good examples. There’s nothing to complain about because it’s the best job. This is what we’ve wanted to do, our whole lives, and we get to do this. This is 100% positive. It’s really fun to work with Ted, Kristen and Mike Schur. It’s really just the best job, and I miss it right now.
How challenging is it to find that balance between human and robot, without too much emotion and judgment but still be happy and positive?
CARDEN: It’s challenging, and it’s more challenging than I thought it would be. The first season was more challenging, and coming back for the second season felt more like home. I was like, “Oh, I know this character! I love this character!” It feels right in my body now. But for the first season, it was definitely a struggle to not be too robotic and not be too human. It just was harder than I thought. The nice thing is that Mike Schur is super open and collaborative, and loves to talk about script and acting. Any time I was struggling, I would just grab him at lunch and say, “This is hard!”
When you got to the end of Season 2, did you wonder where you could possibly go for Season 3, or did it give you an idea of what that would look like?
CARDEN: It does give you a hint about where Season 3 could go, and it’s gonna make the wait very hard. You’re gonna want Season 3, Episode 1 immediately. There was that feeling, after Season 1, of what was gonna happen next, but we were reeling from that big twist. At the end of this season, you’re gonna want Season 3 the next day, and it’s gonna be a hard wait.
You’re also doing Bill Hader’s new HBO series Barry, which sounds crazy. What attracted you to that project and who are you playing on that show?
CARDEN: I am, as we all are, a huge fan of Bill, so I was super excited to work with him. I play one of the actors in his acting class, which is taught by the great Henry Winkler. I think there’s six of us in the acting class, and we all just play different annoying actors. I’ve gotten to see the show, and it’s so good. I can’t wait for people to see it, to get to see Bill in this different kind of role, and Henry Winkler is amazing. I’m very proud of it and I’m really excited about people seeing it. I play this character named Natalie, who’s this really insecure, annoying ass-kisser of an actress. She’s made herself Henry Winkler’s assistant, and he walks all over her. It was really fun. The funny thing about the six of us playing these actors is that each one of us has this in our real life, where we’re like, “Oh, boy, this cuts a little too close!” We’ve all been these actors before, so it was painful, but very fun.
How does the humor of Barry compare to the humor of The Good Place?
CARDEN: Barry is very, very dark. I would call it a dark comedy. It’s super funny, but it’s also very ground and real and dark. These two shows are so good and I’m so proud of them that it’s a weird thing for me to talk about them. I can’t stand how cheesy I sound, but these two shows would be my favorite two shows. If I wasn’t a part of them, they would be my two favorite shows on TV. And we haven’t even talked about Broad City. It’s just too much good shit! Between Barry, Broad City and The Good Place, it couldn’t be better. I just am so, so, so proud to be any part of those three shows because they’re wonderful.
The Good Place airs on Thursday nights on NBC.
