You loved him as Chidi on The Good Place, but you’re definitely going to love William Harper Jackson in HBO Max’s Love Life, in which he’ll be taking up Anna Kendrick’s mantle as the hapless in love lead character.
Deadline revealed that Harper has been cast to star in the HBO Max anthology series for its upcoming second season. Still set in New York City, Love Life season two will follow his character’s retreat back to life as a single man after his long-term relationship comes to a sudden end. If you watched the debut season of the original series, you know that our hero’s journey will be, as dating in real life so often is, a very stressful journey.
Kendrick starred in the first installment as Darby, an artsy NYC transplant who was unlucky in both her love life and her work life. Episode after episode, we watched her kiss various frogs in search of her Prince Charming, but she did get her happily ever after; in the final episode, she found her person in Kingsley Ben-Adir. Darby (and the viewers at home) had to put up with seemingly endless drama — her first love dumped her for a job, she married a scammer, and then she got pregnant by said-first love after getting divorced — but she did find love. So I guess the chaos was worth it. Love Life traces the stories of people’s first to last loves, so Jackson’s protagonist will find a similar happy ending. Fingers crossed.
The gig marks Jackson’s first leading role on a Hollywood production since his screen debut in 2007. Over the years, he’s appeared in projects like The Electric Company, Dark Waters, The Breaks, and NBC cult favorite comedy The Good Place, in which he stars across Kristen Bell as Chidi Anagonye.