D’Arcy Carden & Manny Jacinto on ‘The Good Place’s Fall Finale & Tearful Table Reads
Preview
The Good Place is entering its final lap as the show’s fall finale is set to air Thursday, November 21, followed by the return of its second half of the final season in early 2020.
As viewers were shown in the previous episode, “The Funeral to End All Funerals,” the Judge (Maya Rudolph) decided that it was best to restart Earth from scratch. In an effort to halt this, the Janets (D’Arcy Carden) united to keep the Judge from accessing her destruction button.
The plan? It’s time to wake Chidi (William Jackson Harper) up. “The Judge has decided that we need to start over, that Earth has been canceled. It needs to be, not rebooted exactly, but just start from scratch,” Carden tells TV Insider.
“We’ve learned a lot, and this just simply can’t happen. Eleanor’s (Kristen Bell) trying to think of a way to fix it,” continues Carden. “Then, of course, who better to turn to then our little Chidi Anagonye?”
Costar Manny Jacinto, who plays the super-chill Jason Mendoza, says, “I would like to think that Will [Jackson Harper] has had it easy for the past couple episodes. But now, this episode coming up is really going to showcase [him] at his finest.
“You get to see him shine in this episode,” Jacinto adds, “however you want to interpret that.”
(Credit: NBC)
As for Janet and Jason, they’re taking a bit of a backseat this episode, but there will be more between the fan favorites in the second half of the season. “Manny and I love acting together,” Carden shares. “We love it when Jason and Janet get to have these one-on-one scenes, and we’ve made that very clear to Mike [Schur] and the writers.
“We had a hard time this first half of the season, not to spoil anything, but because things weren’t exactly what they seemed,” she adds. “It wasn’t our normal Janet-Jason interaction. It was hard as actors to do that. And so I would say that the second half of the season was easier.”
Jacinto agrees as he recalls the series finale table read — the series wrapped filming earlier this year. “I just remembered the final table read… not being able to get through the words, especially during some interactions with D’Arcy or with Janet.”
“There were a lot of tears from everybody in that table read,” Carden chimes in. “Yeah. It was difficult, but it was also very heartwarming,” Jacinto concludes.
(Credit: Colleen Hayes/NBC)
We asked the pair whether the series will answer the big questions being posed within and Carden assures us, “We get some great clarity and closure and resolution and satisfaction. It’s quite lovely, beyond just being a finale when Mike Schur, the creator, told us what it was. It really struck a nerve. It resonated with all of us, and I really feel like the audience is going to feel the same way.”
“Totally,” Jacinto concurs, “I think so.”
As for what’s next, Carden teases that “there’s some really exciting fun surprises coming.”
“Yeah,” agrees Jacinto. “Especially with this next episode coming up that is focused on Will. There’s a cool camera trick involved.”
“That took a long time,” Carden confirms. “It was really fun.”
“It took a long time to do,” elaborates Jacinto. “I don’t want to spoil anything, but it’s definitely something that we haven’t seen visually yet on this series. And it’ll be very interesting to watch.”
“And we have some fun guest stars coming up,” quips Carden. “I’m going to say it’s fun, but I’m not going to show you how excited I am.”
Don’t miss them or the exciting new details they shared by tuning into The Good Place when it airs Thursdays on NBC.
The Good Place, Season 4 Fall Finale, Thursday, November 21, 9/8c, NBC
The Good Place, Season 4 returns, January 2020, NBC
