Crashing onto Netflix UK in autumn 2017, The Good Place immediately made waves with its new genre of sitcom. From Michael Schur – one of the minds behind Parks & Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine – this ‘deadcom’ follows four flawed people navigating life in a paradise that isn’t all is as it seems, and the phenomenon fast became a Netflix favourite. Now that season 2 is over, it’s all steam ahead with season 3: here’s everything we know about the new season so far.
What’s the release date for The Good Place season 3?
Jameela Jamil has confirmed that the show will return for its third season on September 27. As has been the case in the past, it’s expected that the first episode will air in the US on that date and will then appear on Netflix UK the following day.
What’s the plot going to be?
The final episode of season 2 saw Michael and the Judge sending Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani and Jason back into the moment they died, saving them from their deaths to determine whether or not they were really capable of becoming good people in real life.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, creator Mike Schur cleared up the Season 2 ending, saying, “Normally I don’t like to just flatly state what’s going on, but here I don’t see the benefit of people experiencing ambiguity: The four of them are straight-up back on Earth, in a new timeline where they didn’t die.
We then saw Eleanor trying but failing to learn from her mistakes, before being given a nudge by Michael in the right direction. She then flies to find Chidi, and we can assume the same might happen with Tahani and Jason in season 3.
“A lot of the progress they have made as people has been sort of theoretical, because it’s all come after they’ve understood that they are dead and in the afterlife,”Schur added. “It seemed like a natural move to send them back to a time before they made that progress, and to use the idea of nearly dying to test their ability to improve. Especially because now that Michael has watched them improve, over and over, he has started to wonder whether or not there is something fundamentally wrong with the way humans are judged.”
Here’s hoping we get plenty more of Tahani’s shameless name-dropping too.
Might there be a Parks & Recreation crossover?
It was recently pointed out by Twitter user @ShinraAlpha that Parks & Rec and The Good Place take place in the same ‘universe’. Of course, we’ve seen Adam Scott (Ben Wyatt in P&R, Trevor in TGP) play different characters in both shows, but given that the show is now back in the ‘real world’, there’s no reason we can’t see Eleanor Shellstrop bumping into Leslie Knope, April Ludgate, or other P&R characters whose actors haven’t appeared in The Good Place yet.
Just discovered that The Good Place takes place in the Parks and Rec universe and now by whole brain is crying. pic.twitter.com/UjtJLSclrA
— Words from Darran (brb on hiatus for November) (@ShinraAlpha) February 6, 2018
Has filming begun?
Not yet, but we’ll update this page when we hear more news.
Who’s in the cast?
We can expect the main crew to return. That’s:
- Kristen Bell as Eleanor Shellstrop
- William Jackson Harper as Chidi Anagonye
- Jameela Jamil as Tahani Al-Jamil
- Manny Jacinto as Jason Mendoza
- D’Arcy Carden as Janet
- Ted Danson as Michael
There’s also the potential for Adam Scott to come back as Trevor, Jason Mantzoukas as Derek Hofstetler, and Maya Rudolph as Judge Gen, among others.
We can also expect a load more guest stars of similar comedy calibre to want in on the Good Place action – possibly more friends of creator Michael Schur, like Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones or Andy Samberg.
When’s the trailer coming for season 3?
Probably in summer 2018, when filming has been completed. Here’s season 2’s trailer in the meantime.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5QLY94kRJQ