Justine Lupe Teases ‘Nobody Wants This’ Season 2 And Working With “Delightful” and “Goofy” New Guest Star Leighton Meester

As Morgan in Netflix smash hit comedy series Nobody Wants This, Justine Lupe is the sister, best friend and podcast co-host to Kristen Bell’s Joanne. Loosely based on creator Erin Foster’s own experience of meeting her husband and converting to Judaism, with Bell and Adam Brody playing out a version of that romantic narrative, Lupe also sees Nobody Wants This as a kind of “love story” between Morgan and Joanne. As sisters and best friends who co-host a podcast, the characters again echo reality in that Foster and her sister Sara share a podcast and business ventures together.  Lupe—who became widely known for her Succession role as Willa Ferreyra—says she drew less on the real-life of Foster and her sister, and more from her own memories of feeling the pinch when close friends fall in love and the single-girl sisterly bond is altered forever. With Season 2 wrapped and coming out this fall, Lupe talks what’s to come and why the show resonates with jaded daters everywhere.

DEADLINE: What’s it been like in the wake of the show’s huge success and probably stopped on the street all the time?

JUSTINE LUPE: It’s funny, I don’t feel connected to that. I don’t feel connected to the difference. I’m a really friendly person, I’m a really social person. I like talking to people on the street anyway, just making contact. I’m so happy that this show has had an effect on people and that people found it fun. It hasn’t hit my life in a way that feels disarming. It’s more just a pleasant round of interactions that I’m having. And it’s so sweet to think that this kind of delightful romantic comedy has hit people so hard. That’s always a nice perk of doing a job.

DEADLINE: I do feel like the romantic comedy is having a major resurgence, and I think partly it’s just that people really need to have hope and delight in their lives right now.

LUPE: I think that you’re right. I think that it’s based in something that feels honest and it’s familiar and it’s something that I think a lot of different people at different age groups can relate to. And I also think this time is particularly, I mean, I don’t know, I feel like we’re always saying the same thing, that this time is particularly dark and dismal, but I do feel like this particular time is singularly bad-feeling. I think that’s also why the show is still being talked about now, a year after it came out. It’s had such a run. And I think that there’s a part of us that’s just starving to tap into something that feels a little more humane than what’s happening right now in the world.

DEADLINE: I also think that people have really reached a kind of saturation with dating apps and seeing a show about people meeting in real life through mutual friends and having a meet-cute feels like the thing that nobody gets to do anymore.

LUPE: There is something kind of old-fashioned feeling about it. There’s something kind of old-fashioned feeling about Noah generally, and at the same time, he’s very modern and he’s kind of representing the modern man and modern kind of masculinity, and not a toxic masculinity. So I think that there’s something that’s both familiar and old school and nostalgic about it, and also that feels very light, something that feels very current. It kind of juggles those two sides.

DEADLINE: So, the sisters Morgan and Joanna are loosely based on Sara and Erin Foster, but how did you approach Morgan? Were there conversations with Erin about the representation of her sister? What was the dynamic there?

LUPE: There was no direct address between Erin and I about what the relationship between Morgan and Sara is, but I kind of made my own link to Sara with the character and it’s like an approximation. There are things that I like that lended myself to helping the process of creating Morgan. I really liked the way that she moved her hands. I thought that the way she dressed was very particular, and I think Morgan’s gone a little bit more far out. And also, my pregnancy [during shooting] got in the way of being anything close to Sara’s insane body. But I had an idea in mind when I auditioned, and some of that was stuff that I drew from looking at Sara and the well of material online and listening to her podcast and finding her vocal affectation and stuff. But then I, after reading a few scripts was like, I think that there are things that really are specific to Erin and Sara. Their kind of banter in the way that they pick at each other and the love that’s found and the nagging that they do with each other. But I also find that Morgan’s a little bit more sloppy than Sara and a little bit more unbridled.

I wouldn’t say Sara is self-conscious, but she’s just so poised and she’s put together and she’s very aware of the way that she comes off and how she wants to present. And I think that Morgan is a little more… I think that there’s a little bit of me that snuck in there, which is like, I’m this girl. There’s a little more slop that comes with Morgan. And I think it comes out even more in Season 2 because the further that I get along into playing the character, I think the more that I can expand and have fun with it. So, I think she gets even a little bit more like me. There’s a little bit less restraint, if that makes sense. So yeah, all this is to say that I think that I connected the dots myself more than Erin connected the dots for me. I think that there was stuff that was intuited in just knowing that it’s semi-autobiographical, but I also was like, ‘I’m just going to use pieces of Sara to create this woman.’

DEADLINE: Something we saw in Season 1 that was really touching was Morgan going through this internal and sometimes external battle where she’s happy for her sister, but she also is losing her best friend. Morgan’s divorced and when they were both single, they were partners in crime. She’s losing that aspect of their relationship, but also just losing time with her best friend and sister. And I’m curious as to what we’re going to see from her in Season 2. Has she made her peace with that loss?

LUPE: Well, I think that that is a TBD, but I don’t think so in terms of, I don’t think we’ve ended [at] this season. I think that’s a huge thing for best friends and for sisters. It’s kind of like another love story in this love story is the love that is lost when you lose your best friend to another relationship. It’s really like, ‘I’m not the priority anymore.’ And you feel that that Joanne is prioritizing Noah, she’s prioritizing the intimacy that they have and she’s prioritizing the need to protect their relationship over sharing everything with her sister. And so that was a really interesting thing for me too. I think that’s part of the thing that I found most compelling about the show last year and most compelling about Morgan was just what that is, the feeling of losing a friend to a relationship because Joanne is her best friend. I don’t have a sister, but I really know what it’s like to lose a best friend to a relationship. And I think that it’s a long process and I think she’s just starting to internalize what that is at the beginning of Season 1. I think we just found out that they’re actually going to try it, they’re going to go for it. So, this is the beginning of her really having to deal with that.

DEADLINE: I get the feeling it’s not going to run completely smooth for some reason… I want to know about Morgan’s divorce, I want to know more about Morgan and what makes her who she is. And I feel like we’ve barely scratched that surface. I’m hopeful that we meet more people from the background of Morgan’s life in Season 2.

LUPE: It’s so funny that you say that because just recently at an FYC event, they asked me, what would you like to happen with your character? What part of your character would you like to access? And I said the exact same thing. I was like, I would love to meet or know who that guy is.

DEADLINE: What kind of a guy did she marry in her twenties? I think he was probably a jock, king of the high school type. Really tall, buff, hot kind of dude. That’s my gut feeling for her. What do you think?

LUPE: I think it could go two ways. I thought of him as being like that, and then I also kind of imagined him as—because they live in LA—a music agent kind of guy, a guy that’s very kind of always moving, always partying, always going out. He’s kind of a shark, but he’s also pretty alpha. But he’s also got some cool artistic kind of sensibility to him and a little bit of rockstar vibes. Kind of like Capricorn Energy

DEADLINE: And then a total Peter Pan underneath all the show.

LUPE: Yes. He didn’t have together, I imagine he’s the kind of guy that she gets home and he’s passed out on the ground of the apartment because he hung out with his DJ client too long.

DEADLINE: You need to get in the writers’ room with all this. So, Morgan’s had this connection with Sasha (Timothy Simons), and I really like their friendship because it does feel totally nonsexual to me. However, if you are his wife Esther (Jackie Tohn), you are probably really mad about this regardless of how innocent it is. Do you think their dynamic is OK or not?

LUPE: I think that I feel mixed feelings. I think that I too, if I was in Esther’s position, would be deeply uncomfortable and have a lot of questions. I was listening to Esther Perel. Do you know Esther?

DEADLINE: I love Esther Perel.

LUPE: So her whole thing is anything is OK as long as there’s a contract between you two, which is like, we both know what the rules are, and we both know what’s happening and that there’s transparency. And I think what’s screwed up between in this dynamic between the three of them is the secrecy. I think it’s OK for men and women to be friends. And I think that so far there hasn’t been any boundary-crossing, but I think what I mean is physically or saying anything, there’s no verbal affair going on, but there is secrecy and there is acting out of turn by omission—not letting each other know what’s going on. I think that that’s the problem in their relationship is that they’re not being completely transparent with Esther about what’s going on. And I think that that’s what Morgan’s referring to when she’s like, “This is weird. You have to admit this is weird.” What’s weird about it is that they’re not sharing their relationship with their community and their connection with the community. Because I do think that as adults, we find ourselves in magnetic relationships with people that aren’t our romantic partners, and that it’s something that we have to navigate. Especially when it’s a member of whatever sex that you’re interested in, when it could be a romantic prospect, you really have to negotiate, well, how do I handle this if I’m attracted to this person? It’s not necessarily sexual, but how do I live in the gray in a way that’s responsible and respectful to my partner? So, I think that that’s going on there. And I think that if my husband was ever having an interaction like Sasha is having with Morgan, I would also be pretty pissed.

DEADLINE: What’s a favorite memory of shooting this show?

LUPE: I mean, I think that anytime that Adam is doing any kind of basketball choreography, it’s pretty fun because it’s a physical manifestation of the fact that Adam puts work into everything. He’s a super thoughtful, very hardworking guy, and he’s not someone who runs through walls, in terms of if he doesn’t understand something, he’ll just do it anyway. He really wants to know exactly what he’s getting into and what his intentions are. And him playing basketball is a physical manifestation of all of that work. And there were times this season where he would have literally an eighth of a page of dialogue, an eighth of a page was designated to this basketball moment, and Adam would make it into truly a one-man show that went on for 30 minutes of choreography trying to bring in the coach. And there was one moment I look over and Adam’s on the ground with someone. This is all during rehearsal. We haven’t even started shooting yet. And I look over and he is on the ground wrestling with someone with the basketball. And I was like, “What’s happening?” So that was endlessly entertaining, just how much time and energy goes into little, tiny basketball moments for Adam.

DEADLINE: Tell me about working with Adam’s wife Leighton Meester, because of course she’s a guest star this season. I know she is Joanne’s middle school nemesis, so I’m not sure whether Morgan was supposed to also have issues with her as well?

LUPE: I can’t tell you! But we’ve kind of gotten to know each other a little bit through different kind of award shows and just social stuff. And I always thought she’s just so incredibly lovely and kind and personable and fun and funny. And I knew that she was funny when we were interacting. Just she’s very witty and she’s kind of dry and funny in that kind of a sense. But when we were on set, I was just shocked at how goofy she is. She’s really funny and she’s not afraid to make brave choices. And from the first read I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is so delightful.’ And she’s just a joy to work with. She’s really fun and lively and good energy, and she’s just really talented and so poised as a person. She was way more goofy than I expected, and it’s really fun to watch. So, I’m excited for people to see it.