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The Good Place Continues Not to Be Bad; Will Bring Us More Ted Danson in Season Two

Photo: Chris Haston/NBC

Spoilers ahead for the entire first season of the show mentioned in the headline.

NBC’s set-in-the-afterlife The Good Place brought forth a forkin’ excellent first season, which ended with the genuinely shocking twist that Ted Danson’s character, Michael, wasn’t the swell guy he was all cracked up to be. Instead of being a seemingly quirky architect who runs the “Good Place” with a loving fist, it turns out he was nothing more than an architect from the “Bad Place” who was tasked with torturing the four leads in a new beta version of hell — which was going well, up until his plan was discovered by the people he was tasked with tormenting. (Awkward!) Anyway, now that we know his big secret, don’t worry that the stakes to deliver an equally huge revelation next season will be higher: Because the only thing that matters is we’re getting more Ted Danson.

“If you go to season 2 after this ending, you have this gigantic weapon, which is you have never seen the world from Michael’s point of view before,” Good Place showrunner Mike Schur explained in a new interview with Indiewire. “You’ve never seen backstage in his life, what his daily trials and tribulations are, what he’s going through. So that was instantly the plan was if we get a season 2, that we switch sides and we get to see Michael’s POV and what went into it from his side — following his trajectory and then bouncing back and forth between him and Eleanor.”

As the four “Good Place” residents had their minds wiped in the season finale, we’re now privy to something that would’ve immediately given away the twist to begin with — the chance to see Michael by himself or with his colleagues. “We were sure to say for the beginning of the process, This is not going to be the same season,” Schur continued. “We’re telling different stories and the easiest way to tell different stories is to switch the point of view to Michael’s perspective.” Go get some fro-yo in celebration.

We’re Getting a Lot More Ted Danson in The Good Place