LOS ANGELES – Kristen Bell is heading to heaven in her new series, but that doesn’t mean the new show is religious.
According to creator Mike Schur (“The Office” and “Parks and Recreation”) NBC’s “The Good Place” doesn’t focus on religion, even though it’s about the afterlife.
“This isn’t a religious show… Religion is almost irrelevant,” he said at the Television Critics Association Summer Tour. “It’s really about ethics. The intention is not to make any current specific commentary on people or things except that the behaviors we all exhibit in our everyday lives have ramifications. The only objective is to discuss the main question of ‘What does it mean to be a good person?’ That’s the only intention.”
Bell takes on the role of Eleanor, who wakes up to learn that she is dead. The actress told FOX411 she heaven would ideally include “naps every day.”
“[It’s] probably very similar to ‘The Good Place,’” she said. “Everything is nice.”
Her decision to take the role in the upcoming series was a no-brainer.
“It was exactly what Mike said it would be,” she raved. “I signed on a year before the script was written. It was just in pitch form from Mike, and it was the most bizarre brilliant idea I heard that fused my two favorite things… which are laughter and discovering what it means to be a good person, and it was everything they said it would be.”
And Bell loves that her character isn’t perfect.
“It’s been incredibly fun because in part one of my personal favorite things about choosing a role is finding someone who is not necessarily an ideal protagonist on the page but figuring out how to get the audience to sympathize with her and root for her.”
“The Good Place” premieres in the fall on NBC.
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