Erin Foster Made the Rom-Com of the Year with Netflix’s ‘Nobody Wants This’ — Here’s How

It’s a well-known cliché to write what you know. For creator Erin Foster (“Barely Famous”), that meant her Netflix rom-com “ Nobody Wants This ” came into focus during her own religious conversion, which Foster undertook a few years ago when she fell in love with her Jewish now-husband.

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“There were about 23 people [in my class] and only three were converting for marriage, which tells you there was 20 very interesting stories going on in that room!” Foster told IndieWire. “And I thought it was just interesting. I hadn’t ever seen anybody explore that area, and I thought it’d be cool.”

While downloading a fellow producer on the latest conversion class goss, they suggested Foster turn her experience converting to the Jewish faith into a docuseries. But Foster was already halfway through the process, so they switched the pitch to a scripted show called “Shiksas.” The original plan was for Foster to star in it as well, but while developing, they ran into an unexpected issue.

“The truth is, there wasn’t enough conflict there,” Foster said. “Just having a guy who’s Jewish in L.A., meeting a girl in 2024, how many stories can you really tell? And so one of our producers said, ‘Hear me out. What if he’s a rabbi? ‘ And at first I was like, ‘No, no. That makes no sense.’ And then as soon as I let it sit, I thought, ‘I think that’s a really good idea.’ And once we had that puzzle piece, everything started to open.”

“Everything” meant assembling a millennial dream of a cast for what became “Nobody Wants This,” with Kristen Bell, whom Netflix wanted, and Adam Brody leading the 10-episode season centering on a big-mouth agnostic podcast host who always dates the wrong guys and a nice rabbi just getting out of a serious relationship. Brody’s wiseass brother is played by the always-delightful Timothy Simons, and Bell’s sister (and co-podcast host) is “ Succession” favorite Justine Lupe .

Foster knew getting the role of dreamy Rabbi Noah right was key to making this a smash (and rest assured: “Nobody Wants This” will absolutely be a Netflix smash).

“You can’t name a Jewish actor who didn’t audition,” Foster said. “There was this kind of cynicism in all these guys that this character couldn’t have. He needed to have a genuine warmth about him, and he needed to have a softness [and] sweetness. Adam just has that. The character is inspired by my husband, and my husband is someone who can’t make you feel bad, like it’s not possible. He just shines this sweetness and goodness and makes people feel seen, and makes you laugh, and I was trying to capture that feeling to pair him with this cynical character, and Adam was the only one who had that purity about him.”

Brody, last seen on TV in “Fleishman Is in Trouble,” nails the role of Noah, which won’t be a surprise to anyone who spent their post-“The O.C.” years hoping he would be up for a rom-com project such as this one. It’s a simplification to say he’s playing grown-up Seth Cohen, but it’s certainly a role closer to the one that made him famous than he’s tackled in many years.

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The Netflix rom-com deals with typical early relationship hurdles like combining friend groups and looming exes (common, charming) but also explores the day-to-day practicalities of dating a faith leader (less common, more intriguing).

“I really wanted to sprinkle in little information and trivia about Judaism without being too heavy-handed,” Foster said. “You know, I don’t think a lot of people are coming to the show to watch a religious show. And so it really isn’t intended to be that. But he’s a rabbi, and it would be silly to not have Judaism in the show, because that is his job. I really want the audience to watch an episode and go, ‘Oh, I didn’t realize that’s like, where Shabbat came from,’ or ‘I didn’t know that’s what rabbis could do or couldn’t do.'” (For any inquiring minds: Unlike Hot Priests , rabbis can have sex.)

That said rabbi is as perfectly crush-worthy as Brody? That’s just a fun little TV bonus.

“If you’re gonna have a rom-com with a rabbi, you gotta make him hot,” Foster said. “And the idea of a hot rabbi is so funny to me, because no one I’ve ever met has ever known a hot rabbi. I think that there should be more hot rabbis. And so I just wanted to give Jewish girls the thing they deserve, which is a hot rabbi to look up to.”

Mission accomplished.

“Nobody Wants This” premieres on Netflix September 26.