'Good Girls' Reunion Forming for New Drama Series

Good Girls is not coming back for a fifth season, but creator Jenna Bans and star Retta have found another project to work on. The two are reuniting with Good Girls co-showrunner Bill Krebs for Murder by the Book, a new NBC crime drama. Good Girls ran four seasons on NBC before it was canceled in June 2021.

Murder By the Book will star Retta as a big-city book reviewer and Instagram influencer reports Deadline. Her character is inspired by the crime novels she reviews and becomes an unlikely detective in her eccentric seaside town. The series sounds a bit like Hulu's Only Murders in the Building, which follows a trio of podcast fans who uncover mysteries in their eccentric New York City building.

Bans and Krebs wrote the pilot and Retta will serve as an executive producer. Casey Kyber, Head of Television for Bans' Minnesota Logging Company is also an executive producer on the show. The Universal Television production received a put pilot commitment (this means NBC could face penalties if the pilot is never aired, so it is a good sign that NBC has faith in the idea).

"We learned on Good Girls that Retta can be as heartbreaking as she is funny, so we wanted to create a starring vehicle that would highlight her amazing range," Bans and Krebs told Deadline. "It also doesn't suck that she's super smart and fun to hang out with."

Retta began her career as a stand-up comedian before she booked a recurring role as Donna Meagle on Parks and Recreation in 2009. As the show gained traction and became more popular, Retta's role expanded and she became a full-time cast member in Season 3. After the series ended, she starred in Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce. She played Ruby in Good Girls, alongside Christina Hendricks and Mae Whitman.

Good Girls starred Hendricks, Whitman, and Retta as three suburban Michigan mothers who get involved in the criminal underworld. The show was loved by critics but never did well in the ratings on NBC. Like many other broadcast shows, its profile exploded when it reached Netflix. However, fans couldn't keep the show going and NBC canceled the series partway through Season 5. The last two episodes aired on July 22, 2021.

Outside of Good Girls, Bans also worked on Scandal, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, and Desperate Housewives. She also created the short-lived ABC thriller The Family, which aired in 2016. Krebs worked with Bans on The Family and joined Good Girls after the pilot. His other credits include Red Band Society and Franklin & Bash.