The stars behind NBC's new comedy "The Good Place" said they fell in love with the script for the series right away, and hope fans will love it as much as they do.
The sitcom's star, Kristen Bell, plays a woman sent to an afterlife intended for good people. The "Frozen" actress quickly realizes she doesn't belong, and with the help of her afterlife mentor, played by TV veteran Ted Danson, she sets off on a quest to shed her old ways and discover her better self.
"I was just impressed," said Bell. "It really combines my two favorite things on the planet, which is comedy and what it means to be a good person."
Creator Michael Schur ("The Office", "Parks and Recreation"), director Drew Goddard ("The Martian") and stars of the show took the stage at this year's San Diego International Comic-Con on Thursday.
Fans were treated to an advanced screening of the pilot in the Hilton Bayfront Hotel's Indigo Ballroom before the panel, where the cast and crew talked about joining the project and shed some light as to what we can expect from the brand new series.
Danson, the former "Cheers" star, said he jumped on the opportunity when he read the script.
Goddard said when he was first approached by Schur, he didn't know he would be pitched a pilot.
"I felt my heart sink because I realized, 'Oh, [expletive], I'm going to do this, this sounds fantastic,'" he said, later joking he tried to get Danson recast.
He said he knew immediately he had to be a part of the show.
Schur said it felt "scary in a good way" to do a show that is a slight departure from his decade-long work in television, creating and executive producing popular comedies such as "The Office", "Parks and Recreation" and "Brooklyn-99."
Local
"I had been writing some version of a collection of lovable goofballs in an office for a dozen years, so this is very different and very exciting, to me at least," he said.
He continued: "Every episode has a huge, twisty cliffhanger at the end of it," Schur said. “It takes a lot of forethought and careful planning."
"The Good Place" debuts on NBC Sept. 19 at 8:30 p.m.
