Kristen Bell Had to ‘Convince’ Adam Brody to Costar in ‘Nobody Wants This’

Adam Brody didn’t immediately say “yes” to starring alongside Kristen Bell in Nobody Wants This.

While speaking to Red magazine, Bell, 45 — who plays Joanne in the hit Netflix show alongside Brody’s Noah Roklov — admitted it took “months” for her to convince The O.C. actor to agree to the role.

“I tried to convince Adam to do it for months, but he wasn’t interested in playing a romantic lead,” the Frozen actress recalled to the outlet. 

She added, “I’m still shocked he said yes.”

She continued that Adam is “Kind of cookie-cutter, yet he’s not, and he sort of defies all of the things you think he is – he’ll pop up in weird projects here and there, and only does work he feels is meaningful.” 

“But he’s so appealing to watch. [And] because of Seth from The O.C., people already feel he’s a good guy. Even when he’s playing a pessimistic character, he’s endlessly charming, which is very hard to do,” Bell praised.

The star, who previously worked alongside Brody on the Showtime drama House of Lies, insisted she “knew” he was the right person for the part as soon as she read the script.

She told the publication, “I don’t know why people like seeing us together so much. All I can say is that when I read the script, I knew it was him, and I knew people would feel that, too.” 

Bell also touched upon the pair’s viral kiss in season one, calling the moment “beautiful.” 

“We decided everything before the kiss should be 10 times the length it should be,” she told the magazine, adding, “And then Adam put his hands on my face and I was like, ‘Oh, okay.’ And it just became entangled and beautiful.”

The stars’ sizzling chemistry has regularly come up in interviews since season 1 of the show premiered on Netflix on Sept. 26, 2024.

Bell previously told Etalk last September that even her husband, Dax Shepard, was rooting for Joanne and Noah and wasn’t at all jealous.

“Even I can acknowledge watching it, I’m like, ‘Whoa, that’s hot,’” Bell told the outlet of the character’s chemistry. “My husband said the same thing. Like, watching the first episode, he was like, ‘Oh my God, I want you to kiss him so badly.’”

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Bell’s latest comments came as season 2 of the hit show premiered on Netflix.

A cast guide released by Netflix’s Tudum reads, “First comes love, then comes life. In Season 1 of Nobody Wants This, we swooned over the unmatched chemistry between agnostic podcast host Joanne (Kristen Bell) and unconventional (hot) rabbi Noah (Adam Brody).” 

“Now they’re back and fully committed to merging their lives and social circles. In Season 2, we get to know the rest of the ensemble in their unlikely love story, including Joanne’s sister, Morgan (Justine Lupe), and Noah’s brother, Sasha (Timothy Simons), and sister-in-law, Esther (Jackie Tohn),” it continues.

Also joining the cast for season 2 is Brody’s off-screen wife, Leighton Meester. And in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE earlier this week, Brody opened up about the “best part” of working with his significant other.

“Driving to work together and getting a little alone time,” he said, explaining, “It’s sort of a date night.”

Brody and the Gossip Girl alum married in 2014 and have since welcomed two children together: daughter Arlo, born in August 2015, and a son (whose name they have not shared publicly), born in October 2020.

The second season of Nobody Wants This is out now on Netflix.