{"id":110280,"date":"2019-10-01T17:38:23","date_gmt":"2019-10-01T16:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=110280"},"modified":"2019-10-01T17:38:23","modified_gmt":"2019-10-01T16:38:23","slug":"the-good-place-season-4s-manny-jacinto-weve-learned-to-never-doubt-mike-schur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/interviews\/the-good-place-season-4s-manny-jacinto-weve-learned-to-never-doubt-mike-schur\/","title":{"rendered":"The Good Place Season 4’s Manny Jacinto: “We’ve learned to never doubt Mike Schur”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Heavenly sitcom\u00a0The Good Place<\/strong><\/em> started on the home stretch last week, with Season 4 premiering on Netflix UK every Friday. We speak to actor Manny Jacinto, who plays Florida-born goofball Jason Mendoza, about what to expect from the final run…<\/p>\n

Many shows are cancelled during their hiatuses, but The Good Place<\/em> is getting to end the story in its own terms. What is that like?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s a real opportunity to be able to finish our storyline. E<\/span>specially with all the content available nowadays, a lot of shows are kind of left to die out or are kind of forgotten, but [creator] Mike Schur has a reputation, for one thing the network has confidence in him and the people around him, the writers, have so much confidence in him that he can pretty much do whatever we wants. We have learned to never doubt Mike, and to end the story on our own terms, especially leaving it on the high, is definitely a rare opportunity. Although it\u2019s very bittersweet, I think audiences and all of us, people who are participating in the telling of the story, are happy to be able to give this story a period at the end. It\u2019s something so great to be able to do, especially in TV and media nowadays.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the last three seasons of The Good Place<\/em>, how have you found the reaction to the show? <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s received such a huge amount of love from audiences as the years have progressed. I think as the story has got more and more intricate, word has started to spread around among family and friends and colleagues, and we\u2019ve been getting more popular. Also with the availability of it being on Netflix, it\u2019s gotten to reach so many more audiences. If anything, as time as gone on we\u2019ve been able to gain more and more fans, and people are watching because a lot of people are digging the show, and loving it enough to share it with family and friends.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

All the characters were pretty messed up when they first got to the Good Place, but which qualities do you admire in Jason? <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Other than the fact that Jason is just a goof, there\u2019s an innocence about him. Regardless of whether or not he makes the right decisions, Jason is the heart of the group. He might not necessarily be guided by the smartest brain but he does have the biggest heart, I believe, among all the humans. I mean, he has such a huge amount of empathy for others, and is also I feel like the loyal one. If you ask him to do anything he\u2019ll always be down. He\u2019ll always be willing to do it or take the jump. That\u2019s what\u2019s great about Jason. To be able to find a loyal friend in the world nowadays is huge. So those are his greatest qualities. That\u2019s what Janet sees in Jason, and also the rest of the squad, it\u2019s what they admire about him. That\u2019s why they\u2019re still willing to have him around, despite his crazy stories and his ridiculous actions. <\/span><\/p>\n

How would you describe Jason\u2019s growth over the course of the series? <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

If you go back to the first season, <\/span>he\u2019s definitely had his own significant arc. When he started in the Good Place, he was this guy who was hiding in the bushes and trying to not get caught, just like Eleanor in the first season. And then all of a sudden, he was actually Jason, Jason Mendoza from Florida, who [was a DJ who sold fake drugs to college kids], which is the most ridiculous occupation I\u2019ve ever heard of. He doesn\u2019t know who he is but he\u2019s still kind of hiding himself, but by the end of the first season he allowed him to just be himself finally, and we see who he actually is. As the seasons have progressed, you see how less selfish he becomes because of these relationships with Eleanor, with Chidi, with Tahani, and Michael, and especially with Janet. Being able to create these relationships and surrounding himself with people what he wouldn\u2019t have met in Jacksonville, Florida, he\u2019s learning from them. He\u2019s being influenced by them, whether it\u2019s consciously or subconsciously. I mean, to make a long story short, he\u2019s becoming good. He\u2019s learning to be a good person. That\u2019s something he couldn\u2019t have done back home, with all the craziness that happens in Florida. He\u2019s improving himself and learning how to be good.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you think this is a good time to end the series, or would you want it to go on for longer?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

I mean, financially I would love to keep going forever, to have that comfort of having a job. Also, being able to work on a Mike Schur show, we\u2019ve all expressed how wonderful it is to be a part of this project in particular because Mike is a great leader and we also have great leaders in Ted [Danson] and Kristen [Bell], and everybody from the cast and crew to the support staff and transportation people, they\u2019re all genuinely good people, and that\u2019s something really rare to find in Hollywood and in this industry. So if I could work on this show forever I really wouldn\u2019t mind. But I think creatively, and it needs to end, creatively for all of us, coming to terms with the fact that this story needs to have [and ending] we\u2019ve accepted it… It allows us to tell a unique story and have it end on a high, than to let it drag on. I think we\u2019ve all agreed that it\u2019s a good time to go.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Over the last four seasons, who has been your favourite guest star?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Oh yes, oh my goodness. The one thing I\u2019d like to say about our guest stars is that, you know, they come in not having a clue what\u2019s going on. Especially in this series, because there\u2019s so much happening, we have giant ladybugs and penguins in Jaguars jerseys running around, and it\u2019s like, what the heck is going on? But every time we have a guest star come in, they elevate this show. They elevate the cast around them. I remember talking to D\u2019Arcy and Will and the rest of the cast, and basically whenever we have a guest star come in, we\u2019re like, \u2018we need to be on it that day! We need to deliver because all the guest stars we have are so ridiculously funny, from Adam Scott to Maya Rudolph to Jason Mantzoukas. I can\u2019t say I have a favourite, but I can say that we\u2019ll be getting more guest stars in this fourth season that I\u2019m so looking forward to people seeing. I can\u2019t believe we were able to get these people to come in. But it\u2019s Mike Schur, a lot of people will do anything for Mike. But yes, we\u2019ve been able to get a lot more guest stars that you haven\u2019t seen. <\/span><\/p>\n

What has been your favourite part of working on The Good Place?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

The free food. No, I\u2019m kidding. I\u2019m kind of kidding\u2026 I think I actually take a second lunch home and have it for dinner most days and then I\u2019m all set. I save a bunch of money that way. But my favourite part is honestly<\/span> the people, being able to go to work and not worry about drama or any weird things going on behind the scenes. We\u2019re able to just go to work and have fun with a bunch of friends and pretend. We\u2019re just a bunch of kids playing pretend. Ted constantly reminds us that it\u2019s insanely ridiculous that we get paid for this, because we just get to play. That is one of my favourite parts, being able to play with a bunch of friends and have a good time. Yeah, I\u2019m sad that it\u2019s going to be over, but we\u2019ve had such a good time.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Good Place\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Season 4 is streaming now on Netflix, with a new episode premiering every Friday. Get all the latest fantasy news with every issue of SciFiNow.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Good Place’s Manny Jacinto on Jason, Season 4, guest stars and more <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":110284,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":false,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":""},"categories":[1718,7,207],"tags":[6647,5934],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/NUP_183375_1584.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110280"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}