‘A Man on the Inside’ creator Mike Schur says he plans to have Kristen Bell unknowingly cameo in every season of the show
As long as Netflix keeps A Man on the Inside rolling, Kristen Bell will make appearances, whether or not she knows about them.
**Spoilers ahead for Season 2 Episode 8, “Final Exams,” of A Man on the Inside**
After not so prominently featuring the Nobody Wants This actress in the Season 1 finale of the septuagenarian sleuth series, having her wear her signature Eleanor Shellstrop sweater from The Good Place in a guest lecture led by Ted Danson’s character, Bell once again appears in the Mike Schur series for Season 2. This time around, it’s much less subtle as the audience actually sees Bell’s face on a TV screen as Julie (Lilah Richcreek Estrada) and Vanessa (Constance Marie) watch Veronica Mars in the comfort of their living room.
According to Schur, the decision to feature their old colleague was made in the first season after she appeared on screen briefly, just seconds before another one of their Good Place costars, D’Arcy Carden, made a cameo of her own.
“We decided after she dropped by the set [in Season 1] and we had her do a little cameo where she just stood up with her back to camera and walked off, we decided that somehow or another, as long as this show exists, she will make an appearance in every season,” the creator of the series explained.
To that, Danson — who spent the most amount of time on screen with Bell in The Good Place — chimed in to say that her cameos will continue to be “unpaid,” exclusively. It’s hard to believe it’s been five years since the NBC comedy — which also starred Jameela Jamil, Manny Jacinto, and William Jackson Harper — wrapped after four seasons and 13 Emmy nominations.
Netflix
Additionally, while Bell — who ostensibly was busy filming her own Netflix series at the time that A Man on the Inside Season 2 was in progress in Los Angeles — knew she would be featured in the new block of episodes, the “how” wasn’t made known to her until the new season dropped.
“She doesn’t know how she’s in the [show]. I told her she’s in this season, but she doesn’t know how because I didn’t tell her. But when the show drops, she’ll get to see how she fits in,” Schur explained.
Perhaps this conversation happened at the 2025 Emmys, where the gang was reunited as Schur and Bell took the stage to present this year’s Bob Hope Humanitarian Award to Danson and Mary Steenburgen, his real-life wife and A Man on the Inside Season 2 love interest.
Photo: Netflix
Of course, Bell’s appearance isn’t the only nod to the show that started the family-like relationship between the actors and producer. One episode from Season 2 features Winnie Holzman playing a moral philosophy professor who is tormented with a hypothetical question, a direct nod to Chidi Anagonye, William Jackson Harper’s character in The Good Place.
“It was very fun,” Schur told DECIDER of throwing in little Easter eggs for the fans. “There are a lot of little hat tips and nods that we put into the show in the last two seasons.”
The first two seasons of A Man on the Inside are now streaming on Netflix.
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