The Good Place: Michael Schur talks final season and what he’ll miss most

The Good Place creator Michael Schur shared his thoughts on the final season of the series and what he’ll miss most about making the show.

The Good Place just celebrated their final San Diego Comic-Con over the weekend and capped it off with an emotional panel on Saturday, July 20. It’s one of the best shows on TV, and you’re not the only ones bummed this show is leaving.

Like fans, The Good Place creator Michael Schur said almost everyone associated with the show is bummed about the show ending because it’s so much fun to make the show with this group of people. When asked if he knew the ending when he wrote the pilot, he said he came up with a plan early in the show’s run with the writers, and they are sticking to it.

“Not when I wrote the pilot, but after season 1, I started thinking about it. Like, if we get to call our shot, what would I want to do?” Schur said. “We came up with the basis of it, and then talked about  that with the other writers. The thing that we talked about, in its essence, stayed the same for three years.”

While it’s a bummer this show is ending because it’s so good, it’s great that they get to go out this way, the way they originally intended. There are so many shows, and good shows, that stick around too long or don’t get the opportunity to end the story the way it should end for business reasons. That’s not going to happen with The Good Place. 

And, I think that’s important, especially for a non-conventional show like this. It’s pushing the boundaries of what is possible with comedy in the age of streaming. When we look back, it will be one of those game-changing shows.

At SDCC, we asked Schur what he’ll miss most about The Good Place, and it’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect.

“I get phone calls all the time from Ted Danson. It f****** rules,” said Schur. “Like my phone rings, and it says ‘Ted Danson.’ And if that stops, I’m going to be really sad.”

I totally understand that. Danson is the best! At SDCC, I watched him pick up a KIND bar, read the label, and put it back down on the table with grace I’ve never seen before. I wish I got phone calls from him all the time, too.

Schur didn’t stop there, though. He spoke about each member of The Good Place cast and how much he liked working with them on this project.

“I had known Kristen for a while, and she had been on Parks and Rec a couple of times, but I never worked with her, really worked, with her,” Schur continued. “And they’re just the most delightful people. They’re [the actors] exactly the kind of shoulders you need to rest a show like this on in every way, comedically, dramatically and romantically. And then, you know, the other four actors I didn’t know at all. We met from their auditions, and they just are so good. They’re so good.”

The Good Place has one of the best casts on TV right now, and they all seem to enjoy making this show so much. That energy and chemistry comes across on screen, but it sounds like that energy and chemistry is the same behind-the-scenes, as well.

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For Schur, it doesn’t just come down to missing the people. It’s more about how the show works from the writers to the stars and how confident he feels after each script.

“And I’m going to miss – I hope I don’t miss this, I guess, because I hope that whatever I do next has the same feeling. I will miss finishing a script with the writing staff and knowing that it’s going to turn out well because they’re the ones saying the words. That is such a luxury,” he added. “I’ve had it before crazily. I had it on The Office, even though there wasn’t my show. I had it on Parks and Rec, we have it on Brooklyn currently. It’s a real luxury. And I never want to take it for granted. Because you can put any combination of any of them [the actors] together into a story, and you know it’s going to be good. And that’s amazing.”

I feel the audience can feel that cohesion between the Schur, the producers, the writers, the cast and crew that Schur is referring to. It all comes together on screen, and it’s one of the many reasons why The Good Place is one of the best shows on TV right now and has been for the last several years.

The Good Place season 4 premieres on NBC on Sept. 26, 2019. The first two seasons are available to stream on Netflix right now. The third season will be added to Netflix in August, and the final season should be on Netflix next year.