The Good Place is hurtling toward its final episodes, and we’re getting some sad moments of closure in the process. Jason, for example, now knows that the Jacksonville Jaguars cut Blake Bortles and a romantic relationship with a non-human intelligence entity may not be possible in the afterlife.
But we’re also getting more fun stories about how the show came together over the years, as it becomes more clear that the people who made The Good Place truly liked working on the show. And that includes Ted Danson, who is good friends with Kristen Bell and also let his competitive side get the better of him when he first started filming the show.
Danson was on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Thursday and revealed that he actually spoiled the show’s major twist for The Office alum John Krasinski. For a lot of people, the twist that happened at the end of Season 1 took the series from an interesting and funny look at philosophy to one of the brightest comedies on television.
Even as the show is ending, keeping the Season 1 twist — that (spoilers) the Good Place is actually the Bad Place — a secret to people tuning in late is important. But even when trying to cast the show, it was tough to keep things under wraps while still trying to get people interested. But Danson couldn’t even get the show on air before spoiling it for Krasinski when he got competitive about projects he’s working on when the show first started production.
“I’m very competitive with John in this great way,” Danson explains. “So he’s off to do a big action movie and says ‘What are you doing?’ And I say ‘Oh I’m actually going to work with one of your buddies: Mike Schur. And I play kind of middle management, The Good Place it’s called.”
Danson said he thought that Krasinski assumed it would just be a reimagining of The Office, the show he starred in and made one of the most beloved comedies of all-time. Which got him going enough that he blurted out exactly what made his show so unique.
“And I can see in his eyes he goes ‘Oh, The Office, but in heaven,” Danson continued. “And I go no mother… it turns out that I’m actually a demon at the end of the first season. And I saw him light up and he goes ‘Oh!”
The twist impressed Krasinski but it did, you know, ruin the whole first season of the show. And considering little to none of the show itself was shot when he was told the spoiler, it’s likely he was the first person to get The Good Place spoiled for them.
