Like its title coyly suggests, Nobody Wants This wasn’t guaranteed to be a hit when it debuted on Netflix in the fall of 2024. The series, inspired by the personal life of its creator, Erin Foster, featured two proven TV commodities in its leads, Kristen Bell and Adam Brody. However, its tone and subject matter were a calculated risk. Nobody Wants This is more of a dramedy than a straight-up romantic comedy, and the interfaith relationship at its center isn’t just a plot point; it’s a matter of serious introspection. The show is bawdy but earnest, which could’ve alienated viewers whose tastes favor one mode or the other.
But glowing reviews and enthusiastic word-of-mouth made it clear: people wanted something like this… something in which the comedy didn’t come cheap and the drama wasn’t manufactured. Nobody Wants This was nominated for three Emmy Awards, including lead actor and actress, and outstanding comedy, and was renewed for a second season, which premieres on October 23, 2025. That turnaround is quicker than many streaming series can pull off these days, but fans of Nobody Wants This may still want to brush up on Joanne and Noah’s history before they give things another go in Season 2.
Joanne and Noah Meet Cute and Fall Fast
Nobody Wants This starts like so many rom-coms do, with a chance encounter. Joanne (Bell) is a feminist, agnostic, and host of a popular podcast (also called Nobody Wants This) in which she freely and frankly discusses sex… particularly her own romantic misadventures. She attends a party at her agent’s house, who happens to be Noah’s neighbor. Noah (Brody) is a rabbi fresh out of a long-term relationship with a Jewish girl he didn’t really love, although his family was hoping he’d settle down with her. Joanne mistakenly believes another man at the party is the rabbi and spends the night chatting with Noah, who reveals the truth at dinner.
It’s way too soon for Noah to be dating again, and even if it wasn’t, Joanne isn’t a good match for him. That’s because Noah’s been dreaming of becoming the head rabbi at his temple since he was a child, and the position comes with the expectation that he’ll eventually wed someone of the same faith. And it’s not just that Joanne’s a shiksa. Her line of work as a sexually-forward influencer doesn’t exactly mesh with his line of work as a spiritual leader. But despite these seemingly insurmountable problems, the rabbi and the podcaster can’t stay away from each other.
Vacillating between support and interference are Morgan (Justine Lupe), Joanne’s younger sister and co-host, and Sasha (Timothy Simons), Noah’s somewhat unhappily married older brother. While Joanne and Noah take things that Sasha describes as “100 miles an hour,” he and Morgan bond over being the black sheep of their families and develop a friendship of their own that feels borderline inappropriate since Sasha has a wife, Esther (Jackie Tohn), and daughter, Miriam (Shiloh Bearman).
Joanne and Noah are a classic case of opposites attract. She’s cool, outgoing, liberated, and cynical. He’s nerdy, reserved, traditional, and sappy. In fact, in Episode 6, “The Ick,” Joanne is turned off by how eager Noah is to please her parents. What’s unique about Nobody Wants This is that Joanne and Noah’s personalities and conflict resolution styles are actually well-suited. Watching the show is almost like attending couples’ therapy.
This couple has to deal with external — and extremely relatable — problems and pressures. On the low-stakes end of the spectrum, Joanne’s happiness makes her a boring podcast subject. On the higher-stakes end, Noah struggles with how and when to introduce Joanne to his community. His ex, Rebecca (Emily Arlook), and her friends are hesitant to warm up to her, as is his family… especially once the promotion he’s always wanted is on the line.
Noah Wants Joanne and His Dream Job, But Can’t Have Both
As Season 1 comes to a close, Joanne and Noah’s relationship is official and important enough that he has to introduce her to his parents and bring up the possibility of her converting to Judaism. In the world of the show, it’s only been a few months, but if the two are to have a future, they’ll have to cross these bridges eventually. Joanne stumbles when she brings an appetizer tray to Noah’s parents’ house, which happens to have prosciutto on it, but she gets the upper hand on Bina (Tova Feldshuh) when she catches her eating ham out of the garbage. But Bina gets the upper hand back when she whispers in Joanne’s ear that she’ll never end up with her son.
Noah, however, leaves the dinner assuming his family approves of Joanne and invites her to Miriam’s upcoming bat mitzvah, where she’ll finally meet Rebecca. Noah’s ex had conspired to come between them and had managed to come between Joanne and Morgan, too, by falsely claiming that she and Noah were still in regular communication. Thanks to her weird situationship with Sasha, Morgan figures out the truth, and the sisters confidently crash the bat mitzvah after Joanne had made up an excuse that she was sick.
In the midst of a slow dance, Joanne tells Noah that she’s going to convert. The rabbi is overjoyed, even more so when it is all but confirmed he will be the next head rabbi, so long as he doesn’t screw things up with the board. Meanwhile, Joanne and Rebecca come face to face. They both admit they’ve been preoccupied with the other’s role in Noah’s life, and Rebecca tells Joanne that she’s won and will get to live the life she always wanted, as a rabbi’s wife. But Rebecca’s description of the high-pressure role gives Joanne second thoughts about her commitment to Noah and to Judaism.
As the party winds down, Joanne decides to break things off with Noah. He tells her that he loves her, and she tells him she loves him, too. But she also admits that she was converting for him, and not because she’s genuinely interested in becoming Jewish. Joanne knows this would keep him from his promotion, and she loves him too much to put him in that position. She leaves and asks him not to follow her. He does, of course, and Season 1 ends with the pair sharing a kiss, even though there isn’t a clear path forward. Nobody Wants This returns with Season 2 on Netflix on October 23.
- Release Date
-
September 26, 2024
- Network
-
Netflix
- Showrunner
-
Jenni Konner, Bruce Eric Kaplan
- Directors
-
Greg Mottola, Lawrence Trilling, Oz Rodriguez, Hannah Fidell
- Writers
-
Lindsay Golder, Jane Becker, Barbie Adler, Neel Shah, Niki Schwartz-Wright
