Leighton Meester Joins The Nobody Wants This Season 2 Cast

The swoon-worthy success of 2024’s Nobody Wants This proved that everyone wants more of Joanne (Kristen Bell) and Noah’s (Adam Brody) love story. After the first season ended on a hopeful cliffhanger for the unlikely rabbi-and-sex podcaster pairing, Season 2 (expected later this year) is adding a few new faces to round out the rom-com’s cast. One of the newcomers is Leighton Meester, Brody’s real-life wife.

Variety revealed the casting update on Feb. 20. The outlet shared a few intriguing details about Meester’s character, Abby, who is Joanne’s “nemesis” from middle school. The idea of Meester playing a former school rival will sit very well with fans of her Gossip Girl character, Blair Waldorf.

Today, Abby is an “Instagram mommy influencer,” Variety adds. According to Netflix, she and Joanne will cross paths in the new season. But hopefully, Meester will share some screen time with Brody, too.

A Couple’s Collab

It’s not their first collaboration. The couple, who married in 2014 and share two children, have worked together on several projects, most recently on Meester’s series Good Cop/Bad Cop.

In a recent interview with TVLine, Meester said Brody is both her “favorite actor” and “favorite person.”

“So the two of those things just make for a wonderful day at work,” she continued. “I get to be with my best friend, who I love and look up to. I always forget that I’m watching him when I am, and whenever I work with him, it feels very secondhand, and there’s so much love and trust. So I’m just grateful every time I get to be on set with him.”

Brody, for his part, was all love during his Critics Choice Awards acceptance speech for Best Actor in a Comedy Series on Feb. 7. “My darling, darling, darling wife, Leighton. Thank you,” he said. “Thank you for sharing this life with me and this journey with me. Thank you for our family. I love you with all my heart.”

Fortunately for those who love romance, Nobody Wants This marks yet another sweet team-up.

Another Exciting Cast Update

Meester isn’t the only actor joining the cast of Nobody Wants This. Variety also reports that Miles Fowler will join the party as Lenny, who plays on Noah’s Matzah Ballers team and “gets set up” with Morgan, Joanne’s sister.

That’s another exciting development, as creator Erin Foster previously told The Hollywood Reporter that the show would decisively do away with any romantic vibes between Morgan and Sasha, Noah’s brother, in Season 2.

“I think we went down that road enough that now we’re going to pull back and reposition so we can have them all in scenes together without [Morgan] being like, a full homewrecker,” she told the magazine in October.