‘The Good Place’ Star William Jackson Harper Previews Fall Finale: Chidi’s in ‘Complete Moral Deadlock’

The jig is up. In an effort to save Michael (Ted Danson) from the brutal-sounding “eternal shriek” that is an architect’s retirement, Eleanor (Kristen Bell) gave up her nonbelonging self on The Good Place. Then, in an effort to save Eleanor from being sent to the bad place, her reluctant mentor/fake soulmate, Chidi (William Jackson Harper), came clean about murdering Janet (albeit accidentally), knowing the truth about Eleanor from Day 1 and his good person tutoring program.

And it worked … at least momentarily. Michael retrieved her from Trevor’s (Adam Scott) train to torture town for further investigation into her mistaken placement in paradise. But Trevor threw them a curveball when he introduced the almost-perfect Eleanor, whose spot she had taken, and said he intended to keep her until things were ironed out.

“That wrinkle will send them into complete moral deadlock,” Harper tells Yahoo TV. And he threw in a warning of his own in anticipation of tonight’s fall finale (the show will return in January): “Prepare for things to get a little more awkward and even less black and white in regard to how things should be handled.”

Has Chidi changed over the course of the first half of the season?
I think that maybe he has gotten rid of some of the moral rigidity at this point. As he deepens his connections to the other characters, he does not want to see bad things happen to them, and he has started to care about them. And therefore his commitment to absolute right and wrong has started to relax. The question of right and wrong has become grayer. It has become a little more a question of what he wants for the people that are important to him. He is also loosening up a teeny-tiny bit. It is almost imperceptible, but change is happening. That’s the biggest thing. He has become more dedicated to keeping them safe rather than basing every decision on whether or not he is doing the right thing.

Related: The Good Place: Kristen Bell, Ted Danson, and Mike Schur Talk Their Divine New Comedy

He has had some positive effects on Eleanor through the schooling and the friendship. In the last episode, she even quoted Kant. But what effect has Eleanor had on him? Is he being changed by her, and is it for the better?
Yeah, I think so. It is one of those things that you don’t know is a net positive until after the fact because she knocks him into crisis mode all the time. But the whole experience with her has made him a more well-rounded dude. I feel like he is having to engage all the stuff that he studied and think about it for real in terms of real-world applications and try to import that to somebody. Her challenging personality has made some of his belief systems more complete. I again think he has also let go of some of the rigidity that was stopping him from enjoying this paradise. Like when she does recite Kant, I don’t think that would have been as joyful a moment as it was if it had happened earlier in the series.

Obviously, the setup is that her slipping into the good place without earning it has made bad things like shrimp flying and the sinkhole happen. But in another sense, it seems like Eleanor is having a positive effect on others, like Michael.
Yeah, I think that is a really fair assessment. She has helped Michael learn more about humans and to relax. She is trying to help keep Jianyu from being discovered. If I am looking at this purely from the outside, so many people in the good place have a superiority thing happening. Through interacting with Eleanor, they are coming in contact with that and becoming aware of it. They are having to deal with her and having to be nice to her even though she is a little bit of a dirtbag; it is turning the place and them on their heads. She is having a more interesting effect. For some of us, her presence is still stomachache inducing, but all in all people are reacting to her rather favorably. No, I take that back. They can’t really act favorably if they don’t know what is going on. But she is making people face their own superiority and maybe grow from that.

Michael decided to send Eleanor to the bad place and called the train on the last episode. When Chidi hears her call Tahani a friend and feels remorse, he then sacrifices himself and tells Michael the truth about her schooling and the part he played in Janet’s murder. Why did he do that?
Because that was the right thing to do. When I break it down, she’s taking the fall mostly for the fact that Janet has been murdered. Most of the things that have gone wrong are mostly on her. Everything went so wildly off the rails because of the initial mix-up and her cover-up of it. But I played an integral role in everything that happened since because I kept her secret even after bad things started happening. I can’t let her take the fall for that completely alone. That would go against his moral code. Michael has to know that I am the one that pushed the button. If there is any chance that she can get some reprieve from my confession, I have to try. We are friends now. I am invested in her and I like her. She has done some good things for me, and she is growing and changing. It is about her and the fact that she is my friend now. And it would not be ethical for me to let her take the fall for what I did.

It was brilliant casting to see Michael Schur alum Adam Scott as the keeper of the bad place. Will he be sticking around for a few episodes?
This is not the last you will see of Trevor. I can’t tell you how much more he will show up or under what circumstances, but it was definitely not the last you will see of him. And it was brilliant casting. I had no idea who could play that part when I read it in the script. But when we got to the table-read and I saw his name, I thought, “Well, this is the perfect guy.” It was a perfect fit. And it was fun to work with him.

When Michael pulled her off the train, it was revealed that the other Eleanor, his actual soulmate, has been stuck in the bad place. How does he feel about that? This is his chance to be with his perfect match for eternity.
It really does knock Chidi into a complete state of paralysis. There is a person he has promised to help and who he now has a real investment in. And then there is this person who is supposed to be there and who earned the good place and the first person did take her spot. But I also don’t know her. But then again, he was supposed to be paired with her. She is supposed to be his perfect companion for the afterlife. So it is a serious conundrum. Can I just throw away the promises I made to the first Eleanor? I don’t know if that is ethical behavior, and is it more ethical than helping the right Eleanor get her rightful spot? That wrinkle will send them into complete moral deadlock. At least for Chidi it feels that way in terms of what he should do next and how he feels about it.

Related: Kristen Bell Is in a Good Place in Her Emmy Magazine Cover Story

Poor thing. I think his head might explode.
Yeah, yeah, that’s certainly what he is feeling. He is so torn. It is a dicey situation.

Another interesting wrinkle is that I got the feeling he also had a little spark with Tahani a few episodes back when he realized they both loved art and he fed Jianyu the perfect idea for a gift for her. Am I reading too much into that exchange?
I honestly think you should read everything into everything that you are picking up on. Basically I think it is more fun as a viewer to suspect everything while watching it unfold. A lot of things are going to unfold before the season is through, and what you are picking up on is not completely unfounded. I’ll say that. There is definitely energy between Tahani and Chidi, and Eleanor and Chidi, and now there will be a completely new component with the real Eleanor Shellstrop showing up. That angle is ripe with storytelling possibilities, and the writers know that.

I find it interesting that as we go along we keep getting reminded that even though there is this algorithm and point system to determine who gets in, those selected aren’t as perfect in practice as they were on paper. Like you can fall for someone else’s soulmate, and Tahini was jealous and competitive with her sister when she saw the rankings.
This place is geared toward human happiness. But all the foibles aren’t going to just disappear. These aren’t perfect people in the good place after all; they are good people. Things are still geared toward our human impulses and desires and our weaknesses, as evidenced by the frozen yogurt. It’s that joke about how they take something they really like, ice cream, and ruin it a little so that they can eat more of it. Humanity is part of the makeup of this human paradise.

Will we see more flashbacks to Chidi’s life?
Oh, I know all the things, and I am not giving any of them up. We are finished filming. But I will say there are a ton of surprises left, and it is a heck of a ride. There is still a lot of time for a lot of stories to get cracked open. You will see all kinds of things in the coming episodes, but I will not tell you exactly what they are.

Can you tease the fall finale?
Again, it is hard because I don’t know exactly what will air in the next episode. We shot them all, and they are in the can. Now they all blend together. But I think viewers should prepare for things to get a little more awkward and even less black and white in regard to how things should be handled.

Will both Eleanors end up staying in the good place?
Oh, that. Now you are going to have to watch to determine that one. I dare not say anything on that topic.

If by chance we’ve stumbled onto the truth of the afterlife, do you think you have any chance to get into the good place given the rigorous standards?
Absolutely not. I am a little too self-centered. One of the main things that I share with Chidi is that I am completely morally and mentally paralyzed pretty much at all times, so it keeps me locked up and inactive. And I feel like you have to do some good things to get there, and it is pretty easy for me to do nothing. So I would likely end up in the bad place if I am being honest.

Well, according to the show, you will be in some good company — all deceased Portland Trail Blazers, Christopher Columbus, almost all U.S. presidents, musicians, and Florence Nightingale.
Oh, yeah, it is full down there. The good place is not so densely populated, but I definitely wouldn’t get lonely in the bad place.

The Good Place airs Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. on NBC. Watch clips and full episodes of The Good Place for free on Yahoo View.