The Good Place has been renewed for season 4! Here are five wishes we have for the upcoming season.
The Good Place season 3 isn’t over yet, but we’re already looking ahead to season 4, since its NBC renewal was announced on December 4.
In the midseason finale of season 3, our heroes finally arrived in the actual Good Place — a Good Place that looks dusty and abandoned, and hasn’t had new arrivals in 500 years because the system is broken. (Ahem.)
Now begins the rebellion against the structure of the universe, the charge led by Michael to revolutionize the Good/Bad/Medium Place system.
It’s a good thing we’ve got a season 4, because there is a lot of ground to cover on this new adventure, and it would be a shame if The Good Place rushed through the Good Place like it did Earth and Janet’s void.
Although we haven’t seen the rest of season 3 yet, we’ve already got hopes for season 4!
Follow-through on re-structuring the afterlife
We’ve known for a while that the Good Place points system was wildly unfair, and it’s been obvious that the show was building towards acknowledging and, perhaps, fundamentally changing the structure of the afterlife.
Now, The Good Place has finally vocalized its endgame, which is to make death seem just a little less hopeless and/or terrifying (butt spiders, butt spiders for everyone!).
The show has to end with the four humans together, whether in a Good Place, Medium Place or a brand new place of their own making (most likely) but first, anarchy has to reign. Like every good modern capitalist corporation, the tower is going to to crumble once you begin shaking the pillars, and something better can be built on the rubble.
The Good Place has always been ambitious, but will it go the distance and actually plunge the universe into chaos — and let the viewers experience that chaos properly, rather than just gloss over it? I think yes.
More of Janet’s void (and other unique locations)
Seriously, The Good Place has so many ridiculously cool locations, yet spends way more time summarizing them than actually exploring them. Throwaway jokes are good; follow-through is better.
Finally getting to visit Janet’s void in “Janet(s)” was a cool treat, but it was just the tip of the iceberg. I know, it’s a void, but it’s also full of endless possibility. Let’s see some of that possibility.
We’re set to explore the Good Place and I’m sure we’ll be sticking around for most of the rest of the season. But what about other neighborhoods? What about the rest of the Bad Place (the coolest location yet)? What about the Medium Place? What about the Judge’s office? What about Earth, which was so unceremoniously abandoned?
The show isn’t over yet, and I’m not worried we won’t go back to all these places. I just want to spend a little more time there and explore beyond what we’ve seen so far, and see how far the writers’ imagination can take us.
More recurring, evolving characters
The Good Place is rootless by design, which means the only real constant is the core cast of six.
But three seasons in, we’ve built up a solid group of supporting characters like Shawn, Vicky and the demons. It would be great to somehow have them around more consistently, both to give our heroes some new people to play off of, and to allow them to develop beyond their schtick personas.
Vicky (Tiya Sircar) is far and away the character with most potential: like Michael, she sticks out a little from the bunch of demons, and it feels like there are a lot of interesting places to take her character. She might even feel compelled to join their cause, since her talents clearly aren’t appreciated enough by her current boss.
There are also characters from Earth that they could bring over if they wanted; people presumably continue to die while our heroes road trip through the multiverse and, despite the supposed Jeremy Bearimy structure of time, the fact that the Good Place accounting office runs on linear Earth time proves that the timelines must somewhat match up.
Imagine if the show brought over Kamilah, Pillboi or Simone (please!) — not necessarily as regulars, but as afterlife presences that could have bigger roles in the story and actually develop as characters.
A bigger storyline for Tahani
As much as The Good Place has going for it, unfortunately it hasn’t yet figured out what to do with what is arguably its best character.
Probably, sadly, this has a lot to do with the fact that she doesn’t have a(n endgame-potential) love interest; it’s the easiest way to give a character an A-B-C arc, especially if that character is female.
She doesn’t need a love interest to be interesting though, or for her story to be interesting, and I’d rather they didn’t force one on her.
Instead, why not make Tahani a more active player in the main saving-the-universe game? Despite being paired with Jason for logistical reasons, she’s not actually anywhere near his level of ignorant/vapid — she’s intelligent, perceptive, and everything she says doesn’t have to be framed through her narcissism to make a joke land.
Tahani could team up with Janet or Michael or Eleanor (or a recently dead Kamilah, hint hint) on a mission, or go off on her own, undercover in the Bad Place or the Judge’s office or literally wherever. Just give her something to do.
More love and friendship moments
This isn’t something The Good Place currently lacks, exactly. I just want more of it.
The best thing about this show is the underlying love that guides these characters’ actions. They’re not trying to save themselves, but each other. We’ve been told this over and over again, and even shown it a handful of times.
Chidi and Eleanor have admitted their feelings for each other, and I hope The Good Place takes a page out of big brother Brooklyn Nine-Nine and big sister Parks and Rec‘s books and continues to let its lead couple show affection.
Eleanor and Tahani are growing closer as friends, and will hopefully continue to have more conversations that aren’t only about men and romance (Alison Bechdel says hello). Michael and Janet are the best BFFs in the universe, with Michael and Eleanor close behind. Jason and Janet are inching closer to… whatever that is between them. Chidi and Jason are finally beginning to share scenes together. Chidi and Tahani might have talked once, hopefully they will again.
There is so much to mine between this group of six-way soulmates, and because of all the reboots/secrets, it feels like we’ve still only scratched the surface.
What do you want to see in The Good Place season 4?