The following article contains minor spoilers for the series No Good Deed. If you'd like to catch up, be sure to check it out with a Netflix subscription.
If you've been keeping up with Linda Cardellini's career, you know that she's a chameleon when it comes to her roles. Whether she's the sweetest person alive or someone you literally cannot stand, she can pull off next to everything. Now, the actress and her No Good Deed co-star Luke Wilson have proven that point again through their perfect reaction to her latest character, Margo, and their explanation of the shock they felt while filming the series.
For those who don't know, No Good Deed is the latest series from Dead to Me creator Liz Feldman. Dead to Me itself is one of the best shows to binge on Netflix, and one of the stars just so happened to be Linda Cardellini, who received critical acclaim for her part as Judy Hale.
Judy Hale is one of the sweetest people imaginable and we all love her. However, after that show ended, Cardellini spoke to Feldman (who told Netflix's Tudum), and said she wanted to play something that was the opposite of Hale in this new series – a "badass bitch," which was delivered in the form of Margo. So, I asked the No Good Deed star if she believed that she accomplished that goal with her character. She says she does think she did in "some ways," because Margot is so complicated in comparison to many other characters she has done:
I don't know. I hope so in some ways. I think Margo is deliciously complicated in some ways and very uncomplicated in others, and I think that was really fun to play. And I just think in some ways she is the anti-Judy.
Margo is one of the Morgans' neighbors who is making an effort to buy their house for very selfish reasons. She wants to keep her husband, but there are so many moments throughout the series that make you wonder what her true intentions are.
In fact, her co-star, Luke Wilson, told me that her character in the show is one of the few times where he was truly blown away. He even asked 'who the hell' this person was that he was talking to because Margo was so opposite of who Cardellini is:
It's not often that I'm in a scene with someone, and I'll think, 'Who the hell is this person? and 'I think they're lying to me.' Yeah, great character.
There have been plenty of great characters that Cardellini has played over the last several decades that have shown her range – from Chutney Windham in Legally Blonde, one of Reese Witherspoon's best movies, to Velma in the Scooby-Doo films, to even Clint Barton's wife, Laura, in the MCU. But Margo is where we really see Cardellini at her most unhinged – and it's a heck of a fun and shocking time.
Since its premiere on the 2024 TV schedule, No Good Deed has been praised as “quirky yet macabre.” If the series returns for a Season 2 – because we know she did make it out of the fire that was set to her house at the very end – it would be interesting to see Margo return in some way and if her behavior will have changed at all. Whatever the case, I'll be watching – whether it's a part of the 2025 Netflix schedule or beyond.
