Holy mother forking shirtballs! The Good Place is ending with the upcoming Season 4. It's bittersweet news, but the forking great thing about it is that the decision came from show creator Mike Schur rather than an NBC cancellation notice. Schur has a vision for the show, and it includes ending after 14 more episodes.
Michael Schur posted a statement Friday night, via the official Good Place account. That was shared across social media by most of the cast members, including stars Kristen Bell (Eleanor Shellstrop), William Jackson Harper (Chidi Anagonye), D'Arcy Carden (Janet), and Manny Jacinto (Jason Mendoza), who added a sad face with his post. Here's the full statement:
So no need to blast NBC for this decision. The network is not The Bad Place. Jameela Jamil (Tahani Al-Jamil) shared a separate wonderful tweet praising Mike Schur for how he handled the final season decision:
Mike Schur opened up to The Hollywood Reporter on how he broke the news to cast members like Kristen Bell and Ted Danson:
I [waited] until I was 100 percent sure, which was toward the end of shooting Season 3. I called Ted and Kristen and said this was the plan. The other thing was that I wanted to be fair to actors. They want to work and I wanted them to know a year out that we would be winding things down here and if they wanted to plan their lives, they would have enough time. It's only fair to actors to keep them included in those conversations because if you spring it on them a week before, they may have turned down some other offers they didn't do because they thought it would conflict with their home-base TV schedule. That was also a consideration for me and I wanted everyone to know so they could plan their lives a little better than if I had waited until the last second.
Very considerate of him! It's almost like he's making a show about ethical decisions. Mike Schur also talked about the cast's reaction to his decision to end The Good Place with Season 4:
They were surprised and saddened but then quickly not surprised or saddened because it's been really fun to make this show. They get along really well and have all become really good friends. They've have this special journey that they've been on and their careers are all exploding. [...] This has been a very special, highly concentrated thing that we've gotten to do for 53 episodes — because we're doing 14 episodes this season and doing an hourlong series finale. We're just chewing up story at an incredibly fast rate and it immediately makes sense that we would want to get out on our own terms and not feel like we were throttling back and moving more slowly or deliberately than we have to this point. That just wouldn't seem like the same show. So we're going full tilt until the end. Everybody at the end of the day is happy that we're going to end it the way we started it: at a breakneck speed, with a lot of crazy, wild twists and turns.
Can't wait to see those wild twists and turns! The Good Place put itself on the map as a comedy for its brilliant storytelling twists, in addition to the expected humor, fantastic performances, and wonderfully appreciated ethical lessons. It's heartening to hear the show will end on its own terms instead of being pushed out for ratings or other money reasons.
The first three seasons of The Good Place all had 13 episodes, premiering in September 2016, then 2017, and 2018. As Mike Schur noted above, they are doing 14 episodes for the final season, with an hour-long series finale. All signs point to The Good Place Season 4 premiering in September 2019 but NBC has yet to announce an official premiere date for the final season. Catch up on everything that happened in the Season 3 finale to prepare yourself for [deep breath] The End.
