Leighton Meester’s Nobody Wants This Cameo Includes A Playful Nod

Nobody Wants This Season 2 has finally arrived — and this time around, Adam Brody’s real-life wife is joining the swoony, impeccably soundtracked party.

In Episode 5 of the new season (which dropped on Oct. 3), Leighton Meester makes a guest appearance as Abby Kaplan or @abbylovessmoothies, a picture-perfect momfluencer who Joanne (Kristen Bell) despises because she loves her family “too much” and once cut her Felicity American Girl doll’s hair when they were in middle school.

When Noah is enlisted to perform a brit bat — or baby-naming ritual — for Abby’s little girl, Afternoon, he brings Joanne along and the former friends have an awkward but cathartic reunion.

Creator Erin Foster recently told The Hollywood Reporter that the “brilliant” casting idea came from co-showrunner Jenni Konner. “I’d just seen Leighton at the SAG Awards — we were like she’s so cute, she’s so sweet, she’s so funny, and then I told Jenni how great she was and she was like, ‘Let’s put her in.’”

A Cheeky Nod

Once Meester was cast, Foster tweaked the already-written part to include some more screen time with Brody and Meester — including the moment Joanne remarks that Abby is pretty, and Noah replies that she’s “not my type.”

“It just meant a lot to me to get to say something funny like that because I thought it could become a meme,” Foster told THR.

(If you already breezed through the season, you might have noticed the sweet moment Abby tells her followers in a video: “Hi guys, this is Rabbi Roklov. Isn’t he cute?”)

While some elements of Meester’s Nobody Wants This guest spot were scripted, others were her own invention. Chatting to Bustle for Meester’s cover story this summer, Foster said the Gossip Girl alum proved her penchant for improv during a table read. “I don’t think people understand how funny she is,” Foster said, praising Meester’s skill at making Abby “feel like a real influencer, who is very sincere about how ridiculous her life is.”

Most of Abby’s screen time is with Joanne and her sister — and fellow hater — Morgan (Justine Lupe), but Brody told THR that he was simply happy they “got to drive to work together.”

It’s not their first time carpooling for a project. Brody previously appeared on Meester’s series Good Cop/Bad Cop and Single Parents, and the pair worked together on 2023’s River Wild.