How to Get Cast on ‘Nobody Wants This’

Based on creator Erin Foster’s real-life experience, “Nobody Wants This” follows the budding relationship between agnostic podcaster Joanne (Kristen Bell) and dutiful rabbi Noah (Adam Brody), better known as “hot rabbi.” While mismatched in their religious affiliation, the two develop an immediate attraction after being introduced by Joanne’s agent and Noah’s neighbor, Ashley (Sherry Cola)—much to the chagrin of his family. Even Morgan (Justine Lupe), Joanne’s sister and podcast partner, begins to worry if this relationship has become a distraction that will ultimately harm their show. However, as outside forces try to pull Joanne and Noah apart, the duo can’t deny the affection they’ve developed for each other, ultimately defying all their detractors to honor their commitment to their relationship.

“Nobody Wants This” Season 1 features:

• Kristen Bell as Joanne
• Adam Brody as Noah Roklov
• Justine Lupe as Morgan
• Timothy Simons as Sasha Roklov
• Jackie Tohn as Esther Roklov
• Sherry Cola as Ashley
• Tovah Feldshuh as Bina Roklov
• Paul Ben-Victor as Ilan Roklov
• Stephanie Faracy as Lynn
• Shiloh Bearman as Miriam Roklov
• Stephen Tobolowsky as Rabbi Cohen
• Emily Arlook as Rebecca
• Michael Hitchcock as Henry
• D’Arcy Carden as Ryann
• Leslie Grossman as Rabbi Shira

Newcomers for Season 2 include Leighton Meester ("Gossip Girl"), Miles Fowler ("The Resident"), Arian Moayed ("Succession"), Alex Karpovsky ("Girls"), Seth Rogan ("The Studio"), and Joe Gillette ("CSI: Vegas"). Learn how Season 2 was cast in this exclusive interview, here. 

Brett Greenstein and Collin Daniel (“Superstore,” “Never Have I Ever”) of Greenstein/Daniel Casting were the primary CDs on Season 1 of “Nobody Wants This.”

While you’ll want to impress the casting team, Greenstein wants actors to realize that CDs do not have the ultimate say. “At the end of the day, we’re not the final decision-makers,” he told us. “We present our choices to the studios or producers. I’d like to think we’re matchmakers, in a way, because we’re presenting this [actor] to that group of producers or directors or studios, and we just hope that everybody sort of sees each other as each other’s talent. It’s just really about marrying talent and producers or creators.”

While Foster had initially hoped to assume the starring role herself, a change in her priorities—plus the studio’s desire to cast Bell—ultimately gave viewers the Joanne they’ve come to love.

“I wanted an actress who would fall into it in a really relaxed, natural way. And from our first meeting at Netflix, after they bought the idea, immediately for them, it was like: ‘It’s Kristen Bell. It’s Kristen Bell no matter what. It is Kristen Bell. That is who it is.’ They have worked with her many times before, and they are obsessed with her. They love her,” Foster told Harper’s Bazaar. “It was like, ‘This is who it’s going to be.’ And I was like, ‘Amazing. Let’s meet.’  

“And we had a meeting, and she was so respectful, nice, and complimentary, and she very clearly, very quickly said, ‘Erin, I know you wrote this for yourself to be in. I’m not comfortable taking this role away from you.’ And I said, ‘Well, first of all, it doesn’t sound like I really have a choice, so let’s do this,’ ” she continued. “I think it would’ve been way too much. I was really trying to get pregnant, and I knew that those two things happening at the same time wasn’t going to work. And so I was kind of giving her my blessing. Like: ‘I want it to be you. I don’t want it to be me.’ And after that it just sort of all fell into place. 

“[Kristen] really wanted us to cast Adam [Brody], too,” she added. “They had a personal relationship, outside of it, a friendship. She felt really confident that they would have great chemistry. And she was right. She’s got a really great instinct for casting. She had really good ideas.”

Yet while Brody was the top choice, the casting team still held auditions to exhaust all possibilities—even though Brody was completely unaware. “I didn’t know they were auditioning people,” Brody told the Hollywood Reporter. “I wanted it. I only got the first episode of the script, but I thought it was charming and a fun role that felt both comfortable and a familiar, fun place to play. At the same time, the character being a rabbi meant that it had this whole other side to it. I had a lot to learn and study so that I could do an actorly thing with it. I should also be so lucky to work with Kristen. She’s a phenomenal actor who has an amazing track record. I wanted to do it, but I was content to let it all play out.”

And doing so worked out in the end, as Brody and Bell’s onscreen chemistry continues to generate buzz—even Bell’s real-life husband, fellow actor and podcaster Dax Shepard, couldn’t wait for the characters to kiss!

“Nobody Wants This” isn’t currently casting for Season 3, as the series hasn't been officially renewed yet. If you're looking for similar gigs, our roundup of rom-com gigs that are currently casting might help you scratch that itch in the meantime. You may also want to explore our guide on how to audition for Netflix as you prepare for future calls. Bookmark our main Netflix casting page, too, as it regularly updates with the latest opportunities as they become available.

When Bell was starting out, she received a lot of discouraging criticism. “I would get feedback from an audition like: ‘Well, you’re not pretty enough to play the pretty girl, but you’re not quirky enough or weird enough to play the weird girl,’ ” she told Vanity Fair. “I remember, early on, getting feedback that I was not enough in either category. And I was like: OK, so does that just mean, like, I can’t be an actor? What does that mean?”

While Bell noted the industry has become increasingly inclusive in recent years, nothing’s made more of an impact than the advice she received from Cher. “When I did the movie ‘Burlesque,’ I asked Cher for her best piece of advice, and she said: ‘If it doesn’t matter in five years, it doesn’t matter,’ ” Bell shared with Woman’s World. “What I’ve realized as an adult is that I don’t have to be perfect,” she added. “I just have to be better than who I was yesterday.”

Similarly, if Brody could give his teenage self some advice, he’d tell himself to worry less about the little setbacks. 

“I remember I went to take my driver’s test on my 16th birthday and failed—rightly so. I won’t get into the minutiae, but I didn’t know something I should have. I took it again two weeks later and passed; but…those two weeks [were] just the most awful two weeks. It would never end, I would never drive, and I’m a loser. And obviously, in hindsight, those two weeks weren’t a big part of my life,” he told us.

“In a similar way, as an actor—not even my younger self—I have been too precious. I do think you work when you can, and it will work itself out. It’s hard for anyone to be too choosy; it’s hard for movie stars to be choosy,” he added. “You’re so lucky to just be in the business; they don’t make that much stuff. And sometimes I would let my ego get in the way of things that I would find fun, and would also earn me a great living, just because I thought: Well, it’s not cool. Even though I would have had a blast. So just going with the flow a little more; and not being so precious wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.”

Even Cola has torn herself up over having to get every little thing just right during the audition process. “Ever since I can remember, I’ve always analyzed everything to a fault. I found myself trying too hard to do something a certain way because, in my brain, that’s how it was ‘supposed to be.’ Well, guess what—there’s no perfect way to do anything. There’s no right or wrong to delivering a line. There’s no golden rule on how to express yourself,” she wrote for Backstage. 

“Because I started in standup and built a small audience with over-the-top character videos, my first instinct as a performer is to do anything I can to get a laugh. Where’s the button? What’s the punchline? But—plot twist! Sometimes I don’t need one,” Cola added. “Of course, I’m still learning as I go, but whether I’m in an audition room or on a film set, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that I don’t have to bring out a rubber chicken or squirt water from a plastic flower to make an impact. The key is to walk in with one important prop: me.”