Following a recent Emmy nomination for TV legend and heavenly architect Ted Danson, The Good Place showed up to Comic-Con in full swing on Saturday, taking over the Indigo Ballroom in what was one of the most anticipated panels of the day.

Last we saw our loveably kooky and imperfect crew, Eleanor had given up a chance at paradise in order to muck it out with the people she’d finally grown to love. But after failing their test with the great judge to prove they’ve grown as people after death, with Michael’s intervention on their behalf, the season finale saw Eleanor and friends miraculously granted a second chance at life in an experiment to find out if people can change their base behavior given a slight push in the right direction.

And despite the two steps back our gang seems to take every time they gain an inch, the end of the second season left us on a similar note of hope as the first: with Eleanor on a quest to find Chidi, despite not knowing why she feels pulled towards him. After finally getting the man who can’t make up his mind to profess his love, we know that while Chidi may or may not be Eleanor’s soulmate, after years of winging it on her own, a couple hundred reboots in the Good Place have shown that he does seem to be the puzzle piece keeping her connected to her own heart.

‘The Good Place’ panel at SDCC

– Mark Evan Jackson (who plays Shawn on The Good Place and moderates The Good Place podcast) hosted the panel. He introduced himself clearly by stating, “I said that to make it clear I’m not Clark Gregg.”

– Jameela Jamil, hilarious as always, came dressed as a real life Tahani, extravagant sundress and all. She also revealed enthusiastically that her kiss with Manny Jacinto in season 2 was her first on screen kiss and only her seventh real-life kiss ever. Later on she would again enthusiastically reveal that she was also Manny’s seventh kiss (with apologies to his girlfriend who was in the audience).

– Showrunner Mike Schur revealed that when he pitched the show to Ted and Kristen originally, the biggest selling point for them was getting to work with each other. Ted and Kristen met on a movie set about seven years ago and the first time they met Kristen eagerly informed Ted that she was currently checked into her hotel using the name of his character’s wife in Damages.

– Mike Schur talked about how the job of a television writer can only be done if its in concert with 40 other people. He also said that the reason this show works and can be as ambitious as it is is because of Morgan, their producer who can find anything. Also, apparently Ron Swanson’s unwillingness to reveal his birthday is based off of Morgan.

– Kristen Bell said that she and Eleanor are not the same person, but she likes that Eleanor says things that she would love to say.

– Eleanor’s obsession with mailmen is based off of a postcard that Kristen kept hung up in her childhood bedroom featuring a scantily clad mailman. She gifted it to Mike last season and it’s now framed in his office, which makes business meetings a little awkward.

– Mike said that his goal with this show was not to take a point of view of what’s right and what’s wrong but to show all of the different points of view – that’s why Michael states in the pilot that every religion is five per cent right. This show is hopefully giving the audience a Wikipedia level of basic ethics.

– Fun fact: Kristen does not eat shrimp even though Eleanor loves it! Kristen has been a vegetarian since she was 11 and she has never tasted seafood ever. The prop department uses vegetarian rubber nuggets that are not tasty at all she said.

– When Emmy-nominated Ted Danson was asked what it felt like to feel relevant to a new generation, he answered that it felt great because Sam Malone is all about his penis and the show has basically established that Michael doesn’t have one so it’s been a perfect circle.

– Kristen agreed to do the show because she not only loved Mike Schur’s previous work, but because the people who had worked with him previously said that it was the best time of all times. At her age she is now picking projects based on what her day-to-day life is because she wants to be happy and joyful and not miserable. With Mike she knew she would be getting quality and she knew it would be fun. Also, her number one dude Ted Danson was going to be involved!

– Manny took the job because, “I was broke.”

– Will Veronica Mars make it into the Good Place? According to Kristen Bell, “Fork yeah! She fights for the underdog. Anytime you fight for someone littler than you, that’s grounds to get in.”

– According to everyone on the panel, Manny is the least like his character on the show. As Mike said, “No one in the real world is as dangerously stupid as Jason Mendoza.” Mark added, “Manny also throws 10 per cent fewer molotov cocktails.” And D’arcy added beside a sheepish Manny, “And Jason’s hot, but Manny’s hotter.”

– We also got a special sneak peek of the first two minutes of the third season in which Michael talks to the guard who holds the key to the door between Earth and afterlife (played by Mike O’Malley of Burt Hummel fame). Turns out, it was Michael who saved Eleanor from the carts that initially killed her!

That’s all folks! And in conclusion, the real Bad Place is the friends we made along the way.