Netflix just released the newest season of “Nobody Wants This,” a show following the life of a couple made up of an agnostic podcaster and a Jewish rabbi. Throughout the show, the pair navigate differing worldviews. Kristen Bell’s character Joanne adopts the religion of Judaism, allowing for the unraveling of the events in the following episodes.
Adam Brody, who plays Noah Roklov on the show, recently came out speaking about support for Palestine in the Israel-Gaza War. Meanwhile, Erin Foster, the creator of the show, and Sara Foster, the executive producer, expressed their support for Israel. The show first aired in 2024, when the sisters addressed the Oct. 7 attacks from 2023. The two told The New York Times that the show is not about politics, but instead about love.
USC and Hebrew Union College professor Dr. Karen Skinazi, who teaches Modern Jewish Literature and Culture and is Director of the Louchheim School for Judaic Studies, shared her view on the conversation.
“Erin Foster… pointed out that they really avoid politics in the show and they don’t engage with Israel,” Skinazi said. “They won’t even engage with the Holocaust. And I love this in some ways, because I think it’s an overcorrection to what’s out there, which is so much about Israel and the Holocaust.”
Religion used to be briefly mentioned as an attribute of a character, according to Allison Josephs, the founder and director of nonprofit organization Jew in the City. The nonprofit works to combat negative perceptions of religious Jews and to make Orthodox Judaism accessible.
“I was trying to figure out a way to change the narrative,” Josephs said. “And so I saw this as an opportunity for information to be democratized, and for me to be able to put into my own words, what my lived experience as an Orthodox Jew was.”
Josephs shared the complexities of trying to grab and keep viewers’ attention and to start her initiative.
“I was noticing that everyone else’s representation on television and film was getting increasingly better, increasingly prouder, increasingly more diverse, and yet, for Jews, every story was unorthodox,” Josephs said. “Everyone else was leaning into their identity, and for Jews, the message was, if you move further away from who you are, then you deserve to be celebrated.”
Growing up with a Jewish background, Josephs shared her outlook on the show.
“I love these teachings and these laws, and that’s a really empowering thing to see on television, on Netflix, that there is a Jew who loves being Jewish,” Josephs said. “We’re seeing that people are waking up and they’re realizing that there is a way to infuse these moments of Jewish pride and wisdom into Jewish content.”
Skinazi discusses shows like “Nobody Wants This” in her own curriculums.
“Even in the very first episode, our rabbi is cool, he smokes… he flirts,” Skinazi said. “He’s at a dinner party where no one’s from his congregation, nobody’s Jewish, but immediately, he starts paraphrasing the Talmud.”
Skinazi has taught the show to her USC students as well as to her prospective rabbis at Hebrew Union College.
“I think there was also a positive spin, because people felt like the show managed to reach audiences and tell Jewish stories that most shows can’t,” Skinazi said. “Even when people don’t love the show itself, or are irritated by some of the representation, they recognize that probably the overall impact is a good one.”
Some religious creatives found Noah and Joane’s love story to be more accurate than most religious coverage.
“They’re able to take the story as it is,” Skinazi said. “And see Jewishness through this lens of a rom-com.”
Judaism isn’t the only religion felt to be misrepresented in the film industry. Chris Guerra, who is the co-founder of Creatives Collective, an online platform providing classes and guidance for Christians in the film industry, said Hollywood doesn’t always portray religion accurately.
“[Filmmakers] will do things in Christian movies that’s not relatable,” Guerra said. “People talk in scripture, which is not how people talk... I’d rather you show us the good and the ugly, and then let the audience decide.”
Guerra is an actor, director and filmmaker who discovered a need for the Christian Creative Collective with his wife. The couple was approached by other Christian creatives asking for guidance and decided to establish the group. With this experience in consuming some Christian content, Guerra found relief in watching the show following Joanne and Noah.
“The first time I started watching ‘Nobody Wants This,’ I went, ‘Oh, they’re actually showing us the reality behind this religion, the ups and downs,’” Guerra said. “I love that it’s just very relatable, and they’re not sugarcoating their religion either.”
James Duke, an executive director, filmmaker and pastor for Act One, a Christian group of entertainment professionals, explained his approach to the industry and religion.
“What some people are commonly associated with, ‘faith-based entertainment,’ would be lesser-quality fare,” Duke said. “And that is something that we find incompatible,” Duke said. “Why would you do something mediocre and offer that to God, right? You want to offer your very best.”
Duke shared Act One’s emphasis on combining religion and the film industry and why it matters to him, after working in film for almost two decades.
“We say you can’t separate them; you can’t separate your faith, you don’t have to compartmentalize your faith and put it someplace else,” Duke said.
Guerra agreed with Duke’s sentiment.
“We are Christians first, and then we are filmmakers,” Guerra said.
Christians and Jews in the film industry both acknowledge the pros and cons of how their religions are represented in the media and that there should not be a need to separate the two. Viewers can watch to see how the Star of David and stars in the film industry, like the ones found on Hollywood Boulevard, will align in the newest season of “Nobody Wants This.”
Edited by Natalie Cerna