Why Was Good Girls Actually Cancelled? Star Retta's Explanation Is Wonderfully Salty

Retta in Good Girls
(Image credit: NBC)

It’s been over a year since NBC axed dramedy Good Girls, even though a fifth season seemed like basically a sure thing. Not long after the surprise news, it was reported that two major stars were involved in Good Girls’ cancellation. Now, star Retta is spilling some tea about it, and she is understandably salty.

Retta recently appeared on Live! With Kelly & Ryan, where the hosts asked her about Good Girls. While the comedian didn’t get into all of the details, she did confirm that it's not coming back and revealed the root of the cancellation:

We were very close to our fifth season, but one person ruined it for all of the cast and crew. And so it’s not back.

Obviously, Retta didn’t reveal too much more about the situation, but it’s definitely a disappointment to have one person ruin it all when they were so close to Season 5. It does make me wonder what exactly happened, though the actress at least wasn't naming names about who ruined it. Apparently, what happens on the Good Girls set, stays on the Good Girls set.

As for whether there was any possibility to replace this unnamed person, Retta shared that it was too close to the start of planning where the story would go next. And as much as she would have loved for the story to go a different direction, she is still salty to this day that it never happened:

I think it was a little too close to when they would have to start and figure out a story, so… no. Trust me, Kelly, I am salty. I was literally like, 'Okay, maybe there was like a bomb scare at some point, and then a bomb actually went off, and that’s why that person’s gone.'

It would have been interesting to see how the storyline would have changed if said person had been written out and/or replaced by someone else. It’s not unprecedented for a series to replace a cast member or just write their character out between seasons. 

Following the cancellation, multiple Good Girls stars took to social media to react to the news, with posts including memes and conveying clear disappointment. Since the series wasn't quickly picked up anywhere else, it’s unlikely it will get the same Netflix treatment as Manifest or Roku treatment as Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, both of which NBC also cancelled at the same time in 2021.

Even without a Season 5, the Good Girls cast has remained busy with other projects. Mae Whitman scored the lead role in Hulu’s upcoming musical rom-com series Up Here. Meanwhile, Christina Hendricks is set to star in the upcoming film adaptation of the New York Times Best Seller, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. Retta, on the other hand, hosts the HGTV series Ugliest House in America.

While we may never know all the details behind why Season 5 of Good Girls never happened, all four seasons of the series are streaming on Netflix with a subscription so you can relive the best moments and think about what might have been.

Megan Behnke
Freelance TV News Writer

Passionate writer. Obsessed with anything and everything entertainment, specifically movies and television. Can get easily attached to fictional characters.