As if we weren’t already beside ourselves with anticipation about series two of Nobody Wants This, our excitement has been ramped up by some truly inspired casting news: Leighton Meester is joining the cast. 

This is brilliant news for so many reasons. Firstly, Meester is of course the wife of Adam Brody – who plays the show’s romantic lead, rabbi Noah Roklov – so we can’t wait to see them act alongside one another. Brody already can’t say enough great things about his wife, telling Stylist in his cover interview last year that she’s always the person he looks for in a crowded room. “When you’re out somewhere in public, there’s something very nice about seeing the person you’re with from across the room talking to someone else,” he said. “It’s a totally different perspective and, ideally, it’s a very lovely and flattering one. In my case, it definitely is.”

Secondly, this casting news is also giving us a Gossip Girl reunion to fulfil all our nostalgic dreams. Brody’s Nobody Wants This costar Kristen Bell was the voice of Gossip Girl (“you know you love me” etc), and Meester played Blair Wardolf in the show (Meester and Bell also starred together in Veronica Mars). Anyone else praying for Penn Badgley and Mischa Barton cameos too?

Thirdly, Meester’s role in Nobody Wants This sounds perfect. Variety reports that she will join the cast as Abby, the “middle school nemesis” of Joanne (Bell) who has since become “an Instagram mommy influencer”. 

And finally, Meester is brilliant, and we haven’t seen enough of her on screen in the last few years. 

We don’t know much about how series two of Nobody Wants This will pan out yet, but we do know it will start filming in March ahead of a planned release later in 2025. The show’s creator Erin Foster will be joined behind the scenes by Jenni Konner and Bruce Eric Kaplan, who previously worked on seminal series Girls.

Alongside Meester, there are also plenty of other new cast members to get excited about. Arian Moayed (who was brilliant as private-equity investor Stewy in Succession) will play Dr Andy, a charming and successful psychotherapist who is a potential love interest for Joanne’s sister, Morgan (played by another Succession alumna Justine Lupe). There will also be a Girls reunion on set as Alex Karpovsky plays an overly confident rabbi at Noah’s temple. Miles Fowler (Man On The Inside) will join as Lenny, Noah’s Matzah Ballers teammate who gets set up with Morgan. We sense a love triangle…

In an interview with Netflix’s Tudum platform, Brody shared how he thinks the show’s story could evolve after Noah’s grand gesture in a car park at the end of the first series (where he promised Joanne that he wouldn’t give up on their love, despite the consequences that might mean for his career and family life).

“I think that’s what the show can explore,” Brody said. “What should [Noah] do? What should [Joanne] do? What version of sacrifice is worth it? What constitutes growth, or what constitutes dimming yourself to be with someone else? It’s a sacrifice, but ideally, you grow together and you’re better for it — you don’t have to [lop] off a limb.”

No limbs lopped, just love and growth. It’s going to be perfect. 

Images: Getty; Netflix; HBO