Adam Brody opens up about his career resurgence following the runaway success of the Netflix romantic comedy Nobody Wants This. Two decades after his breakout role as Seth Cohen in the teen drama The O.C., Brody has again emerged as a charming rom-com star in the Erin Foster-created series about a rabbi who falls for an agnostic woman. Nobody Wants This season 2 will begin filming early next year, with Brody and Kristen Bell returning. Bell has compared the show’s reception to her work in the mega-franchise Frozen. For Brody, he’s become a first-time Golden Globe nominee and one of the most talked about actors of the year.

In an interview with Backstage, Brody spoke candidly about the renewed spotlight he’s been under after Nobody Wants This. The actor mentioned that he was happy about the fact that more people are seeing his work. Still, in the transcribed quote below, Brody is open about how he’s not significantly different as a performer than he has been in other recent roles. He also gives a detailed breakdown of how casting can sometimes work and why it can be hard for performers to get big parts, noting that executives can tend to favor names that are currently leading the zeitgeist:

It’s pretty great. I mean, I don’t take any offense to it. Put it that way, you know. It’s very nice. It’s very gratifying, and I’m so happy people have found some of my work now. I’m very proud of the stuff I’ve done in the last 20 years, but I sure know the difference between a hit and not and something that’s not a hit, and the palpable difference and essentially the difference between a vast amount of people seeing your work and not. And most of it is the latter. So when something hits, it’s very satisfying, and it feels like, at least for me, who has been doing it a long time, it feels like a result of all the work. It’s related to everything I’ve done in the last 20 years, you know, I didn’t get this job because I wasn’t working for 20 years. And so, yeah, it feels like they’re still related—the work that’s seen, and not because, somebody’s seen it. And, also, you grow, you know, as an actor, you learn.

It’s also pretty silly in the sense of… it’s such a subjective industry in many ways. It’s such a subjective art, and it’s such a subjective—you know, and then anyone has this—, any filmmaker knows, any filmmaker wants to cast somebody and they can’t. The money says, ’No, it’s got to be X, Y or Z’ and then they go, ‘all right, well, X won’t do it. Y? Figuratively, I’m sick of that person. That’s not a color I want to paint with right now. It’s everywhere. They’re like, ‘yeah, that’s why you got to use it.’ And it’s a fight. It’s very nice to be on a momentary upswing where perhaps more opportunity comes your way, perhaps doors that were closed open.

At the same time, it’s also f—king ridiculous. But what are you gonna do? Just meaning that you’re the same actor you were a month ago. Real heads know. I can say that for so many actors, you know, but everyone’s kind of chasing their tail. I think it’s a cliche, like, “these executives are just worried about their jobs.” It’s just, it’s the way it all works. Everyone wants the latest thing and, and, yeah, you gotta fight to sort of cast someone original in anything. Anyone has to fight for that. And so, I don’t know. I mean, look, I’ll take it. I’m used to it, the ups and downs, but I roll my eyes at it as well.

Brody’s Resurgence Has Been Years In The Making

He’s Stolen The Show Before

Brody’s response helps to illuminate how it is that some of the biggest movies and even television shows often end up starring the same combination of faces. Talent and suitability for the part are huge factors, but executives also consider which star might bring the most attention and interest to a project. Every performer has their own way of navigating through that. In Brody’s case, he’s spent the last several years shining in supporting or relatively underseen roles.

Still, with every new film and TV character, and each supporting role, there would routinely be a litany of social media posts and articles premised around the delight of seeing Brody again and how his presence elevated a project. Nobody Wants This, in many ways, is the culmination of a trend.

His best performance has little in common with Seth Cohen or Noah of Nobody Wants This, with the actor portraying a depressed and stunted sleuth in the 2020 dark crime comedy The Kid Detective. Around that time, Brody also had scene-stealing turns in the horror movie Ready or Not, playing the only one in a demented family who still has the slightest bit of a heart. In the Shazam! films, though his time on screen is limited, he and young Freddy Freeman actor Jack Dylan Grazer came away in the eyes of several critics and fans as the comic book adaptation’s greatest strengths.

Brody even dipped his toe back in a rom-com setting with the FX and Hulu miniseries Fleishman Is in Trouble. Playing another Seth, the Golden Globe nominee had a secondary focus compared to Jesse Eisenberg and Claire Danes. Still, with every new film and TV character, and each supporting role, there would routinely be a litany of social media posts and articles premised around the delight of seeing Brody again and how his presence elevated a project. Nobody Wants This, in many ways, is the culmination of a trend.

Our Take On Adam Brody’s Resurgence

It Is The Right Role & The Right Circumstances

Bell and Brody have acted together twice before, albeit Nobody Wants This is their most high-profile collaboration. Part of that is due to the global reach of Netflix. A part of that, as well, is the fact that Brody finally has the leading man role that so many envisioned for him when The O.C. signed off in 2007. In the years since, he’s done crime dramas like StartUp and the twisted dramedy Billy & Billie. His latest role, however, taps into the perfectly played simplicity and understated affability that appealed to audiences and finally, after too long, puts him at the center of a story.