“I Just Gravitate Toward People I Love”: Linda Cardellini And Liz Feldman Discuss Reuniting On Their New Netflix Show, “No Good Deed,” After “Dead To Me”

If you were to ask me what one of my favorite TV shows in the last five years has been, chances are I would say Netflix’s Dead to Me. Starring Linda Cardellini and Christina Applegate and created by Liz Feldman, the series was not only hilarious but also explored grief and loss in a way that was so poignant and unlike anything I’d seen on TV before.

It also felt like there was magic between Linda, Christina, and Liz when you would hear them talk about the process of filming Dead to Me, becoming friends, and everything they ultimately put on screen.

Now, Linda and Liz have reunited for a brand new Netflix comedy series called No Good Deed. The series follows various groups of people who are all vying to buy the perfect home in Los Feliz, California. In typical Liz fashion, the show also has plenty of twists and turns, and it’s filled to the brim with great performances from an ensemble cast featuring Linda, Lisa Kudrow, Ray Romano, Denis Leary, Abbi Jacobson, Teyonah Parris, O-T Fagbenle, Poppy Liu, Luke Wilson, and more.

So, to celebrate their new show, I sat down with Linda and Liz to talk about reuniting on No Good Deed after Dead to Me and what it was like creating the character of Margo, which is a vast departure from Linda’s work as Judy. Here’s everything we chatted about: 

Liz, when did you first come up with the idea for No Good Deed, and when did you know you wanted to bring Linda along after working together on Dead to Me?

Liz Feldman: I mean, Linda’s just like a little magic lady friend, and you can quote me on that.

We didn’t know each other before Dead to Me, but as soon as we met, my first feeling was I want to be friends with this person. And then, as we worked together over many years and through 30 episodes and trials and tribulations and pandemics and highs and lows, it just really cemented our friendship. And beyond that, I was a fan of hers before that. So, I’ve known of her and wanted to work with her for many, many years. And in terms of this business, which can be really hard and cold, I just gravitate toward people I love. And you know where it feels warm and cozy, and that’s Linda. 

Did you write the character of Margo in No Good Deed with Linda in mind?

LF: We were shooting the third season of Dead to Me, and she’d been playing Judy for many years, and that’s such a sweet person, such an angel, a doormat if you will. And, at some point, Linda just said, “God, I just want to play a badass bitch,” word for word. I started laughing, and I started thinking, Who would that be, and what would that look like? At the same time, I had been developing an idea for a show based on my experience of buying a house during the pandemic. 

The experience was really intense because, obviously, we were going through a pandemic. We’re locked into our houses. Suddenly, our homes take on all of this meaning, like it’s the only place we feel safe. It’s the only place that can protect us. And I realized that there were just such high stakes in the subject matter of finding the right home. 

As I started developing this show about people vying for this house, I kept thinking, Well, I want to keep working with Linda. So who is this badass bitch? And that’s sort of the seeds of how I came up with Margo. It was like the antithesis of Judy, but also somebody that you could really meet in LA while you were at an open house.

And Linda, how was it getting to work with Liz again after Dead to Me?

Linda Cardellini: It’s the best. I love Liz. Like, I’m so grateful that I have her as a friend. I’m so grateful that I know her creatively, personally. I just feel very, very lucky. And I feel like when we were on Dead to Me, it was like this experience that, like you said, highs and lows, and we went through so much together, like during those years, not only on set, but in real life and all these things that happen. And it’s just wonderful to have a collaboration with somebody that you just really care about. The set is filled with people who care about each other. 

Liz has such exquisite taste that the people that you get surrounded with both on Dead to Me and on No Good Deed. It’s just so much fun. From the people who are on camera with you to the people who are behind the scenes to the people who are also in the writers’ room. And, Trayce [Field], who is the wardrobe designer, does incredible things.

It just is a real community of artists doing their thing. Liz has such a specific vision but is always open to other artists collaborating, and it just makes it such a fun place to be. I couldn’t feel luckier, really, that you have chosen to take me with you twice. It’s just a gift. It really is. So thank you. I love you, too.

Margo in No Good Deed is a total departure from Judy in Dead to Me, they could not be more opposite, so how was it getting to really play something totally different this time?

LC: To have somebody as talented as Liz write for you and especially ask you what it is you would like to do next is just such a gift. It’s an honor. And to then get that and know that even whatever I think of, whatever I could dream of, it’s gonna be twistier and more layered than I ever imagined. And so it just is delicious. 

She writes these delicious roles for a woman who is me, my age. I don’t have to pretend to be anything different. And I mean, I do, that’s my job. It just is so wonderful to be given such a deep role. And even if the character is superficial, as Margo is, it has so much depth to it in terms of how much I actually get to play with and do on any given day. 

Liz, unlike Dead to Me, this show is an ensemble piece, as opposed to just centering on two main characters. What was the idea behind wanting to do a big ensemble show this time around?

LF: I purposely wanted a really big cast because I loved working with Linda and Christina [Applegate] on Dead to Me, but it was a lot on them every day. We got really close as a result of all of the time and hard work spent together. But it’s a lot to ask two people to work 14 hours a day, every day, and that was pretty much what it was. 

I wanted to sort of spread it out. And also have the opportunity to work with a bunch of actors because I love working with actors. I’m a performer from way back myself, and I just really have always felt a real kinship with actors. 

So I thought, let me write a big cast so I can get a lot of really talented people in here, and also so that I can tell different walks of life because when you’re talking about real estate and people vying for a home, those are going to be different people. Those are going to be people with different needs and different secrets and different dynamics in their relationships. So I just wanted to work with as many talented people as possible, and I am blown away by the cast that Sherry Thomas and Russell Scott were able to get for us. And I mean, I’ll take credit for Linda, but everybody else.

And for you, Linda, how was it being part of an ensemble of actors, many of whom are veterans like yourself who people have watched in so many projects over the years?

LC: Oh god, it’s great. I mean, everybody has such a different and specific energy. And I feel like a lot of the people, you’ve seen their work for a long time, you know them as different characters, but you get to see them in a different way in the show. 

I mean, for instance, Ray [Romano] and Lisa [Kudrow] and Denis [Leary] together, the three of them together it’s so much fun to watch. It’s almost like you wish for it, but never think it will happen that you get to see those three people in a scene together, and there it is. Everybody’s bringing something to it where it feels familiar but also something you’ve never seen before. I just loved it. 

I was so excited for any time I got to cross over. I get to be in scenes with Ray. I get to do scenes with Lisa or, like, passing through and seeing Linda Lavin with her dogs walking down the street. And Luke [Wilson] is so much fun to work with. I think the energy between his character and my character is so good. They’re such polar opposites, and it almost seems so crazy that the two of our energies work together. You can see how these people got together and tricked each other into staying there somehow, right? 

So I just think it’s so much fun. And he has just got such an exquisite way of doing things. I’m not even in the scene, but the scene he has with Lisa, he’s got this scene with her, and there’s a piano. And I just think it’s, like, one of my favorite things that I could sit and watch. Both of them are endlessly interesting to watch. And O-T [Fagbenle], Teyonah [Parris], Abbi [Jacobson], Anna Marie [Horsford], Poppy [Liu], I mean, everybody’s so great. So when I finally got to watch the show, which was very recently, it was so enjoyable to see everybody in their little pocket because you didn’t actually get to interact with everybody. 

So watching it is really fun because you get to see what everybody else was doing and all the other parts of the story and how they come back together.

Linda, you get to work pretty closely with Lisa Kudrow in No Good Deed. How was it working with her, especially in those hilarious comedic moments?

LC: It’s wonderful. Not only is she so incredibly talented, like one of the funniest women to ever be on TV or in film, but she just is so good, and she’s an honest, kind person. She’s just nice. So it’s really just wonderful to be in her presence, and then it’s exceptional to be able to work with her.

And it’s so funny, the dynamic that we have. I love how Liz wrote, “Who the fuck is Lydia?” And the next thing you know, it’s Margo acting like she’s always admired her. I think it’s so much fun. And I think the difference between the two people is what’s so fun about that.

Do you remember what the first scene was that you and Lisa filmed together?

LC: I think me getting hit by the car might have been the first scene I had with Lisa.

LF: Yeah, I think it is.

LC: And Liz had a very specific shot in mind, which was sort of my feet—

LF: Her feet sticking out. I directed the episode, and I wanted to do a little homage to the Wicked Witch. I don’t think it was a little homage. I think it was—

LC: It made me laugh. It was really fun.

LF: And then, obviously, once you know what really happened, her performance of being hit by that car and just her screaming, it makes me laugh every time. And I sat with that scene a lot. 

And then, Lisa had to match Margo’s energy. It was such a fun place for Lisa to have to be. And just their juxtaposition was just too much to take. Once we understood who these characters were, we were like, “We have to put these people in a room together.”

Lisa giving such a deadpan response when you, Linda, ask if you can go inside the house was so hysterical.

Which is like a shock to Margo. She’s like, How did that not work? It’s really fun. And Lisa, when she delivers those things, it feels so honest and real that even in your forward motion of the scene, it takes you aback. Because you’re like, Oh, how do I get around that? I can’t get around that. It’s like, resolute and honest.

Liz, you’ve said before that on Dead to Me, Linda and Christina Applegate really encouraged you to pursue directing. And you get to direct on No Good Deed. How was it stepping into that role once again?

LF: You learn a lot on every show that you do, and I learned a lot on Dead to Me. One of the things I learned is something that Linda and Christina taught me, which is that I’m a director, and I didn’t know that. I really didn’t. I thought I was a writer and a producer and a showrunner, but it turns out, you know, that I had this other thing that was trying to come out of me. 

And Silver Tree, who directed three episodes of Dead to Me over the years, became an instant friend. She’s incredibly talented and also has a really clear vision; she’s such a hard worker and so creative. And she really also shepherded me as a director. And so when I thought, Okay, I’m gonna keep doing this. I’m gonna keep directing. Who do I want by my side, and who do I want to look to for advice? There was no question. It was Silver. 

So she directed six of the episodes. I directed two, and again, she’s a woman who is our age. We have a lot in common. I genuinely love her as a person. And if we’re going to spend 14 hours a day on a set with people, I am going to populate that set with people I love because if I can’t be at home with my family, I’m going to create one on set.

The houses on the show are essentially characters of their own and really reflect each of the couples vying for the Morgans’ home. In particular, Margo and JD’s house is wild. What was that set like?

LC: That’s a real house!

No way!

LF: That’s a real house! A real family lives there.

LC: We decorated it, though.

LF: Barely. Honestly, barely. That is a real house. Like, that’s why we chose the house, because we were like, Well, this is it. All I can say is they’re a lovely family, but I think that they bought a house with all the furniture in it as it was, you know, staged. So I think that they needed to move in really quickly or something. So they bought this house. I was looking for a totally opposite vibe to the hero house, to the Morgan house, which has so much history and character and feels alive. 

I wanted something that felt cold and kind of dead, even though it was brand new. And I felt like it was the kind of house a person like Margo would think was an incredible house. It’s a trophy, you know. But it’s not a place that you would necessarily want to sleep overnight.

LC: It doesn’t have a cozy feel, I would say, but it is still. There is something aspirational about it. I think Margo really relates to it. I think it shows everything about her, the hard edges and sort of these gaudy things that she thinks make style — like the piano — and the mask on the house, that sort of masks the unhappiness is similar to who she is. 

So, you know, it has all the trappings, but sort of none of the real truth and feel that she wishes it would have. As opposed to the other house, which feels good there. It’s soft, but she hates it. I mean, Margo’s the only one that wants to change that house. So I think it’s really funny. I think the house is perfect. 

And also, like, when I am there, it is beautiful. To have an incredible pool in the backyard. That hot tub. That’s all real in their backyard. I mean, it’s pretty nuts.

LF: That hot tub is bigger than my first apartment in LA.

Margo has a wild and stunning wardrobe in No Good Deed. How was it coming up with the costumes for her?

LF: Well, Trayce Field is our costume designer, and this is our fourth show together. We’ve been working together since 2 Broke Girls, believe it or not. She’s so talented, and she’s got such a good vision, especially for characters that are a little larger than life, like somebody like Margo. She just dialed in so quickly to what this person needs and who she wants to portray herself as.

LC: I worked with Trayce with Judy. We loved what we were doing with her. It was so much fun to work with her. I always try everything on, which is an exhaustive process, and she knows that, and she actually likes that. We would sit for hours just kind of crafting things together, and then Liz weighs in, and it’s pretty fun. 

It’s part of the whole expression of what we do. It’s a really fun collaboration. And the stuff that she was bringing me for Margo, we just laughed because it couldn’t have been more opposite from what we had just done for several years prior on Dead to Me. So it was so much fun. Also, when Liz said, you know, “She’s dripping in designer,” I thought, Oh, wow, how fun. I never really get to do that. It was just so much fun for me to go and have that big of a departure from Judy, who we literally said shops in thrift stores. Maybe she took this home from the old folks’ home that people didn’t need any more; she could just wear that to do this.

And finally, do you each have a favorite Margo outfit from Season 1?

LF: There are so many good ones. It’s hard to—

LC: The first one is maybe mine because it set the tone. I think that one where I walk into the house with the Gucci skirt. That set the tone so much for who she was going to be, because it was the first one we decided on. There were some that I couldn’t actually get out of that I needed help to get out of. There would be, like, a very specific zipper on some. I was sewn into some. And then so I think that first look is probably—

LF: I might also say the red dress. 

LC: Well, the red dress. 

LF: In Episode 7, she wears this dress that, to me is, like, sort of the embodiment of Margo in a dress because you’re like, What material is that?! It was shiny. She almost looked like a fake person, like a doll.

LC: Which I take as a huge compliment. Thank you.

LF: Yes, exactly. 

LC: There was also that green jacket—

LF: Oh yeah! In the finale, you wear that blue Alexander McQueen—

LC: And the one that I get hit with the car in. That one was fun, too.

LF: Don’t forget about your bathing suit.

I was literally about to say…Linda, that bathing suit.

LC: My bathing suit! Oh my god! We tried on so many bathing suits, and we laughed so hard because one would just get crazier than the next, and then we settled on that one that was just way too revealing.

LF: Way too many straps.

LC: Accentuating way too many things.