God Friended Me Season 2: Suraj Sharma Talks Stakes Rising with the God Account, New Character Joy, & Paris!
Lizzy Buczak
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As the fall television lineup oils its gears and powers back up, God Friended Me is preparing for its second season.
The CBS show made waves last season as a feel-good addition to Sunday nights with it's positive message, remarkable cast, and uplifting storylines.
TV Fanatic had a chance to catch up with Suraj Sharma, the man behind Rakesh, Miles' right-hand man, brilliant coder, and occasional comic relief, to find out just what we can expect from the second season.
Sharma gave us a few spoilers -- we love those -- and dished about the God Friended Me Season 1 cliffhanger, the introduction of a new character named Joy, Rakesh's new job, his relationship with Jaya, and even explained that Paris will play as big of a role in solving the mystery of the God account as New York has.
We haven't seen too many spoilers for God Friended Me Season 2. What can you tell us about the upcoming season?
Um, what can I say about the upcoming seasons? Uh, we have a couple of really good episodes so far. I feel like the stakes are rising. We are doing some special things. We've gotten a really couple of really, really special episodes, we've only shot like six or seven so far.
And Rakesh has a new job as Research and Development at Identity Seal. How's that going for him?
The R & D thing is going really well. It puts Rakesh in a situation where he can take advantage of the resources available to him to help Miles and find out more about the God Account and help more with the friend suggestions.
But that whole R&D thing does change. You'll have to watch to see that.
Spoiler!
Yeah, things are definitely changing. The stakes are rising fast in God Friended Me Season 2.
The trio got a little desperate to figure out who was behind the God Account towards the end of season one.
Now that they know the God Account doesn't mean any harm, are they going to let it go a little bit? Or are they more driven with this introduction of a new character?
Well, every week everybody became a whole lot more driven. But now, the perspective with which we look at the God Account now has shifted slightly.
In the first season, there was a responsibility that was dropped upon these people. And when you first come face to face with responsibility, the most obvious way to go about it is to shirk it and find a way to end that situation.
So that's what we were trying to do. You know, like everybody was like, okay, we're going to help these friend suggestions, figure out who the God account is in order not to have the pressure of having the God account telling us to help people.
But in God Friended Me Season 2, the responsibility is suddenly accepted and it moves from a place of 'why me' to a place of cherishing it.
We realized that the God Account gives us the opportunity to connect with people, help people see other peoples lives, see them smile, bring them hope, bring them courage, bring them, you know, that sense of joy and comfort and caring, and those feelings become more important than who is behind the God Account.
The idea is that we've finally given into the responsibility and said it's a great one. It's something to be cherished.
What can you tell us about the new character Joy that we saw in the God Friended Me Season 1 finale? How does she kind of fit in with the trio?
Joy is a very interesting character. She has an entire life of trials and tribulations that she goes through. And with her introduction, we realize those things, what they are, and how they've affected her. And why she acts the way she acts.
And then we see her take up the responsibility that she has been given and she becomes very close to us. It's really special, but I can't say more other than she becomes very important.
It's like sometimes you don't realize the gift you've been given until you see them in someone else's hands.
Ooh, I love that.
So Cara is going to be in Paris a little bit. Aside from the awesome scenery, there's supposedly a God Account-related lead in the city of lights. How is that even possible?
Well, the idea is this, you know, sometimes one assumes that there there are things specific to a place, but when you're talking about the themes we're talking about, which is humanity, connection, you know, empathy, these things are pretty much universal.
So the God Account isn't restricted to any space. We go to Paris to learn a couple of things about home. It's a big plot point, very important, and it brings us back with a whole lot of information which season two becomes about!
Jaya and Rakesh are one of my favorite couples on the show. How are things going for them when the season picks up?
So it's very interesting with Rakesh and Jaya in God Friended Me Season 2. It's quite fun. She's off in medical school. It's a tough time for any relationship to be a long-distance so you learn about that.
Eventually, she comes back, and they enjoy a couple of days together before, you know, a certain situation causes them to be in slightly in troublesome waters.
Uh-oh!
You'll see it's ups and downs, but that's what life is.
Well, Rakesh has played a role in supporting Miles, he also helps with tracking down the God Account, and he's a bit of comical relief. What's your favorite thing about playing Rakesh?
My favorite thing about playing Rakesh is that in moments of despair and sadness, he comes through with a bit of light and it makes me feel good to be doing that.
I also get to be Miles's right-hand man. Rakesh is always there for him, always would support him no matter what. No matter who comes and goes, he'll always be Miles's friend. So being that person is a joy.
God Friended Me Season 1 Episode 19 Review: The Road to Damascus
I also do like delving into this technical aspect of this whole story with the coding. Understanding how all of that works has been quite a journey for me cause I knew nothing about that. But then I did some research and have been trying to understand how this whole thing works. It's fantastic. It's given me a lot of life lessons in real life.
Can you give us any spoilers about upcoming guest stars? God Friended Me Season 1 has so many good ones!
I can't tell you, but it's fantastic because we have new people joining in who are iconic and extremely good at what they do and also a couple of characters from the past are going to come back and help us out. It's something to look forward to.
Henry, Simon and Pria had a massive role in season 1. Will we see them at all this upcoming season?
So far we haven't, but who knows. I mean, they played a huge part and by the end of season one, they were going to do something big, something amazing. So, we'll see if that happens in season two.
We do know that one of the characters, Simon, sticks around for a little while during the scenes in Paris. So, maybe they are up to something.
In your opinion, who do you think is behind the God Account? Is it a person like a man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz? Does it matter?
Here's what I would think. I'd think if there's AI, there's a person behind that or people or a group. But what's more important to me is the question of whether there even needs to be a God Account in order for us to be doing the things we're already doing.
Do we need someone or something to tell us, this is how you can help?
This is how you should help. You should just help people. You should have empathy, you should show kindness, you should look into another person's life from a place of non-judgment. And if you can do that, then you don't need anybody behind the God account.
It doesn't matter if it's God, if it's an AI or if it's a person. At the end of the day, the focus of the matter is, here's me and here's you, let's talk and let's help each other out. That's my opinion of what the God account really is. It's a vessel of empathy.
That's how I look at it.
Yeah. We may never find out, but that's okay.
Honestly, let's just keep helping people.
God Friended Me Season 2 premieres Sunday, September 29 on CBS.
Tune in and then check out TV Fanatic for our review of the episode!
Lizzy Buczak was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in June 2021..
