Justine Lupe has opened up about the long-awaited second season of Netflix’s working with new guest star Leighton Meester.
The series, starring Adam Brody as Rabbi Noah Roklov and Kristen Bell as Joanne, a “shiksa” and sex and dating podcaster, has been praised for its portrayal of healthy relationship dynamics.
Lupe stars as Morgan, Joanne’s younger sister and podcast cohost. At the end of the first season, Morgan and Joanne, who started the show being close, see distance growing between them as Joanne starts to focus less on their podcast and more on her relationship with Roklov.
In a new interview, the Succession star shared more on the relatable relationship between the sisters and whether season two would see them get back on track.
“I think that’s a huge thing for best friends and for sisters. It’s kind of like another love story,” she said, “the love that is lost when you lose your best friend to another relationship. And you feel that Joanne is prioritising Noah, she’s prioritising the intimacy that they have and she’s prioritising the need to protect their relationship over sharing everything with her sister.”
“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,” Lupe told Deadline.
“I don’t have a sister, but I really know what it’s like to lose a best friend to a relationship.”
On Morgan’s secret friendship with Sasha, Noah’s brother played by Timothy Simons, Lupe said that she had “mixed feelings” about him keeping it a secret from his wife, Jackie Tohn’s Esther.
Nobody Wants This debuted on Netflix in September 2024, with over 10.3 million views in its first four days of streaming. A second season was confirmed soon after, with Brody’s wife and Bell’s Gossip Girl co-star Leighton Meester set to star as her childhood “nemesis” in the show.
Meester portrays Abby, who is now an Instagram mommy influencer, according to Netflix’s Tudum site.
While Lupe gave very little away about Meester’s character and her arc in the show, she described working with Meester as “delightful”. “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.”
The Independent’s Katie Rosseinsky wrote in a four-star review of the first season: “The whole thing is an enjoyable mix of rom-com escapism and sometimes acerbic realism. Joanne and Noah are a couple you want to root for. I get the feeling the show’s title won’t be a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Season two of Nobody Wants This is set to be released on 23 October 2025.
