D’Arcy Carden Talks About Her Big Break And ‘The Good Place’

As a 36-year-old, D’Arcy Carden was having a difficult time making the transition from improv comedian at Upright Citizens Brigade to a full-time actress. At the time, Carden had appeared in a handful of commercials and played a small role on Broad City, but it wasn’t until she landed two major comedy roles, including the role of Janet on NBC’s The Good Place, that the actress finally felt like she had her big break, according to a report from The Lily News.

The Good Place outlines what could possibly happen to humans after death. In the series, when a person dies, all of their thoughts and deeds are tallied and that score is then used to determine whether they will be granted access to the Good Place or condemned to spend eternity suffering in the Bad Place. The series follows a group of humans, Eleanor Shellstrop played by Kristen Bell, Chidi played by William Jackson Harper, Tahani played by Jameela Jamil, and Jason played by Manny Jacinto, along with their friendly demon host Michael played by Ted Danson, and Carden’s Janet, a highly-sophisticated A.I. neighborhood guide.

Janet can be summoned by saying the phrase “Hey Janet.” She holds a wealth of knowledge and is sort of a “centralized information database” for the humans. She also has powers and abilities, including teleportation, omniscience, reality warping, and operating the neighborhood train system.

After her audition, Carden landed the role of Janet.

“I think the moment in my life when it came along was really correct for my life,” Carden says.

“I really felt so aware that, ‘This doesn’t happen, and it doesn’t happen to you.’ And it finally did.”

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“I have this wonderful feeling of, this is a person who deserves her success,” The Good Place creator, Mike Schur, said of Carden.

“She’s just such a good human being. And it makes me so happy that she gets to do this thing she loves, because not for one second do you feel like she doesn’t deserve it.”

The Good Place has already been renewed for a fourth season and will return later this year, according to a report from Radio Times.

At the end of Season 3, the humans had already learned that the Good Place was actually the Bad Place and had been trying to come up with a plan to get themselves into the real Good Place. While doing research, they realize that the demons rigged the placement system in order to keep everyone out of the Good Place and it had actually been 521 years since any human gained enough points to get in. The gang soon make a deal with head demon, Shawn, played by Marc Evan Janson, that they could influence a new set of humans to become better people. The pressure causes Michael to have a mini-meltdown, which forces Eleanor to take over the neighborhood.

Season 4 of TheGood Place will return later this year.