The cast and creator of the internet’s favorite show, The Good Place, appeared on Conan last night to talk about the current season.
The best part of the conversation came when Conan brought out some fan art of our fave ship, Teleanor (Tahani and Eleanor, obv).
“Conan, did you draw this?” asked Jameela Jamil, who plays Tahani.
“No. It looks similar to what I drew,” Conan denied, “but…you’re dressed.”
But Conan knew what the fans really wanted, and pivoted the discussion to be a little more sincere, asking creator Mike Schur if Teleanor is something that could ever actually happen on the show.
Kristen Bell, who plays Eleanor, jumped in before Schur could answer:
“Well, we’ve certainly alluded to it a lot of times, of how attracted Eleanor is to Tahani, although I believe the consensus was, there’s not really a reason, it’s not a pivotal point in the story, to define each person’s sexuality,” she said. “Eleanor is kind of bi, and it’s fine with me!”
Hmm, Kristen, kind of dodged the question there!
“We would have been down, just to be clear,” Jamil, who has always been a vocal Teleanor supporter on Twitter, added quietly to Conan.
The show is only in its third season, and could hypothetically continue on for awhile, so hopefully Jamil’s “would have” isn’t a confirmation that Schur has vowed to never let Teleanor play out even for a little bit.
All the same, the show has certainly been aware of its fanbase, and has included some queer moments this season without making it feel like pandering or mockery, as some shows do when they know they’ve got a big queer following.
During one episode, Eleanor briefly winds up subbing in for Chidi on a date with his then-girlfriend, and clearly gets a little to into it. In another, everyone looks like Janet, the resident kind-of-robot-being, and while it’s technically Eleanor and Chidi making out, it's kind of Janet making out with another Janet.
Look, we’ll take it.
And if The Good Place wants to keep giving us Eleanor flirting with Tahani, we’ll take that, too.