Sealed with a kiss.
Twenty years after Adam Brody first became a heartthrob in the teen drama “The O.C.,” he’s back with Netflix’s romantic comedy sensation “Nobody Wants This.”
Now streaming, the rom-com series stars Brody and Kristen Bell, both 44.
Their steamy kiss in the second episode is lighting the internet on fire, especially millennials who first fell for his cool nerd “O.C.” character, Seth Cohen.
“Had me blushing,” one fan commented on X, formerly Twitter, posting footage of the kissing scene between Brody and Bell.
“I haven’t seen such natural and scintillating chemistry between two leads in a rom-com in a really long time. Adam Brody and Kristen Bell together just work,” another viewer gushed.
A third fan declared, “Adam Brody is the perfect romance lead and we have severely underutilized that in the last 10-15 years.”
“Nobody Wants This” features Joanne (Bell), an atheist podcaster, and Noah (Brody), a rabbi. As the couple fall in love, they wonder if they can make it work with their different lifestyles and backgrounds. Their relationship also faces the skepticism of family and friends.
While Brody has had plenty of work since “The O.C.,” appearing in the Oscar-nominated “American Fiction” as a slimy movie exec and in the buzzy film “Promising Young Woman” (as another slimeball), this show allows him to play a character closer to Seth Cohen, the part which first made him a star.
“Nobody Wants This” was created by Erin Foster, the co-creative head of the dating app Bumble, daughter of Grammy-winning record producer David Foster, and creator of the series “Barely Famous.”
“We auditioned every hot Jewish guy in town,” Foster told the New York Times.
“It’s obvious,” she added about casting Brody. “I mean, he was always cute, but he’s now this very hot adult man. It felt really exciting to show him as this adult version of Seth Cohen.”
Foster told The Wrap that Bell was the one to suggest Brody for the role.
“From the very get-go, she was like, ‘it should be Adam Brody,’” Foster recalled.
“I thought, there’s one person that can pull off the charm and eagerness and professionalism and quirk that this character requires,” Bell explained to the Times about why she pitched the former “O.C.” star.
Foster recalled that she needed Noah to be able to “go toe-to-toe” with a strong female character while still being a nice guy.
“I thought it was charming, and a fun role that felt both comfortable and a familiar, fun place to play,” Brody told The Hollywood Reporter.
“I give a lot of credit to the writing,” he said regarding his chemistry with Bell. “We’ve been together in different shows and nobody said, ‘Your chemistry is amazing,’” he added, referring to starring with Bell in “Scream 4” and “House of Lies.”
“I mean, we had a great time working together and it certainly worked but there’s a reason this time that the show is getting more of a response in this way. That has to do with the shape of the writing,” the actor shared.
Brody, who is married to former “Gossip Girl” star Leighton Meester, 38, told the Times that he is “not religious at all, a nonbeliever,” in real life and that he and Meester are not raising their two children – daughter Arlo, 9, and a son, 4 – in any denomination.
However, he did research for the role because “as someone who barely got bar mitzvahed and retained nothing from it, I did feel a responsibility.”
However, he did research for the role because “as someone who barely got bar mitzvahed and retained nothing from it, I did feel a responsibility.”
Brody told The Wrap that the conflict between Joanne and Noah was “relatable” to people on “both sides of the issue.”
“There are a lot of differences of lifestyle,” Brody said, adding that a similar show could be made with a focus on politics, “and it would work, I think, just as well.”
Foster drew from her own experience for the show. Her husband, Simon Tikhman, isn’t a rabbi, but he wanted to marry a Jewish woman. She converted to Judaism before marrying him.
“Being a modern woman today, where you are ambitious and career-focused, but then you meet someone who’s a little bit more old-fashioned and a little bit more conservative and has parents who are still married and has different expectations, has never really been exposed to divorce — those things are all really real,” Foster shared.
“When you actually go through the process and you realize you’re changing your religion for a person, and if you were to ever divorce, you would need to continue to be Jewish and raise your kids that way. It’s a big responsibility — It’s not something to be taken lightly,” she said.
Viewers took to social media to fawn over the show, especially Brody’s performance.
“The natural chemistry between Adam Brody and Kristen Bell in “Nobody Wants This” is actually so intense, I almost can’t believe this?? Are romcoms back??” said a viewer.
Millennials are obsessed with the kissing scene.
“Never going to stop talking about how he takes a second to look at her face before kissing her. He wanted to savor the moment. He wanted to stamp it in his brain. That was such a good move!” one said.
Another fan wrote, “I’ve always liked Adam Brody. And the thing that I loved about this show is it’s a great example of how nice men – who care about people and the world around them – are verrrrrry sexy.”
Netflix hasn’t announced a Season 2 renewal, but Foster told The Wrap, “I would love to do a Season 2; Kristen and Adam would love to do a Season 2. There’s so much more story to tell so if people like the show, then I would be really excited to keep telling it.”
