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Warning: The following contains major spoilers for Sunday’s God Friended Me series finale. Proceed at your own risk!
God Friended Me’s story has come to an end, but its central mystery will continue to live on.
In Sunday’s two-hour series finale, a complication during Ali’s lumpectomy led Miles back to the church, and after Ali survived, he even rediscovered his faith. In the ensuing months, Miles and Cara fell back in love and have been together ever since, Miles’ voiceover informed viewers as a montage of scenes from past episodes played. Meanwhile, Rakesh and Jaya got engaged, and a healthy Ali decided to follow in her father’s footsteps by joining the seminary. Then, a year from the date that Miles got Ali as a Friend suggestion, he received a new message from the God account, instructing him to come to the Annapurna Himalayas for his answer. In the final scene, he was greeted by a child on that snowy mountaintop, who told him, “Miles, follow me. She’s been waiting for you.”
Here, executive producers Bryan Wynbrandt and Steven Lilien explain that mysterious ending to the question of who’s behind the Almighty account and tease what would have happened in Season 3.
TVLINE | At what point in Season 2 did you know that the show wasn’t going to come back?
BRYAN WYNBRANDT | We didn’t really know for sure until after we finished filming the finale. We ended before we had planned to because of the virus situation in New York. And then when we got back, [during] post-production of that episode and discussing whether or not we would go back to finish it up, it became more and more obvious that things were going to be shut down longer. It started to get apparent to us that the show was coming to an end and that it was likely not going to be renewed, and that’s when Steven and I went to the studio and network with the plan for finishing the finale, which is what you saw.
TVLINE | What adjustments did you have to make to that final episode to make it work as a series finale?
STEVEN LILIEN | The spine of the episode, [we left] intact, because it was all about the Ali storyline and Miles’ journey, but we did make the ending work. We had shot that footage on the mountaintop in the pilot, [which] we never used, because we always imagined that would be the ending. Very early on, when we did the pilot, we were thinking about maybe using a flash-forward, but we pulled back on that. So we always had that footage waiting for us if that day came. So it was just a matter of transitioning from out of this episode and giving a little understanding that time has passed to get him to that mountain. But oddly, everything aligned in terms of Miles’ journey in this season and the last episode to then understand how he would end up on that mountain. Honestly, it was just sort of a stroke of good luck and some voiceover and movie magic in the editing bay that we were able to finish the episode since we still had a few days left to film before we shut down.
TVLINE | That final scene of Miles on the mountain, being told, “She’s been waiting for you,” was something that you envisioned as the end of the series, or something you envisioned as, “This is our Season 2 finale twist to launch us into Season 3”?
WYNBRANDT | In some ways, the answer is both. We had talked about a version where Season 2 would end with the vision of the mountaintop. But then when we started to get the feeling that the series was coming to an end, we just revisited it as it was always intended to be, which was the series ender. But it has the ability to kind of launch us into what would have been a Season 3, in which Miles would have been on a journey to discover who the “she” was and all of that. But as we got closer and closer to the end, we realized we wanted it to be what it was always designed to be, which is he actually was on that mountaintop, and he was being taken to the person or deity who was behind the God account.
TVLINE | So you never intended to explicitly answer the question of who this mysterious “she” is?
WYNBRANDT | [Laughs] It’s in the eye of the beholder. A show like this, it always seemed like it would be a hard ending to say anything definitively, because Steven and I both believe that, like religion itself or like many things in life, it’s what you take from it, and we didn’t want to impress upon our audience an absolute. But I think it’s clear that it’s a spiritual “she.” I don’t think he’s being brought on that mountaintop by the CEO of Facebook. But no, we never wanted to explicitly say.
LILIEN | Also, it’s the tone of it. Miles on the mountaintop, when you look at him, he feels at peace with his journey from where he started two years ago, 42 episodes [ago], [and] that he’s accepted this role, that there was something bigger at play. Luckily, Brandon [Micheal Hall], who’s such a star and so incredible, he gave that to us back when we shot the pilot, knowing that he would have to get there. In a way, it’s satisfying for us to be able to share that as the conclusion to the show.
TVLINE | Was the journey of Miles getting back his faith more important to you than answering, explicitly, who or what is behind the God account?
LILIEN | Yeah, a hundred percent… When we talk about Miles, it’s all about his journey, his journey with his family, in wrestling with the idea of what faith is to him [and] people. To end the series correctly, it had to be satisfying on the Miles level. I mean, people are tuning in every week to see our characters and to see what’s going on with their lives, more so than just who’s behind the God account. You can’t touch that, you can’t feel that, you don’t cry over that or laugh over that. You do that with our characters. So it had to be that journey that ended the show.
TVLINE | Was it a very intentional decision to have it be, “She‘s been waiting for you,” not he? And why “she”?
WYNBRANDT | Oh yeah, definitely. Very intentional. For us, “she” represents many things. But why does it have to be a “he”? Why can’t it be a “she”?
TVLINE | It almost feels like it could be a spiritual presence like his mom.
WYNBRANDT | Yeah, that’s something we talked about. That’s an interpretation, for sure.
LILIEN | Yeah, a hundred percent.
WYNBRANDT | We’re fans of that interpretation. I like that interpretation. Not saying it’s the right interpretation, but I like it.
TVLINE | Did Miles not get any more friend suggestions after Ali?
LILIEN | We never stated it, but in our mind, it wasn’t about, after Ali, the God account stopping. That wasn’t the intention. He was at peace with helping friend suggestions, so I imagine that he continued to do that. We had this idea very early on, that down the road at some point, Miles wouldn’t necessarily need the God account anymore, because you don’t need that to make a difference. But our intention was he kept doing that and he kept spreading it, paying that forward to people, and if we did get a Season 3, we loved the idea of just seeing those friend suggestions come back into his world and see how their lives have changed and how maybe they’ve gone on to change other people’s lives.
TVLINE | Turning to the montage at the end, was that something you added in, just compromised of old footage and voiceover after you found out about the cancellation?
WYNBRANDT | Yes, that was conceived for this version of the episode, which is a series finale. That was footage from the show that really spoke to the moment and told the story the way the words were telling the story.
TVLINE | Cara seemed pretty adamant that she no longer had the same type of feelings for Miles that he had for her, but we did find out that they eventually reunited. So was she not being truthful with herself, or did something just change over time?
WYNBRANDT | I think she was protecting herself from being hurt, [the possibility] that Miles was going to choose the God account over her time and time again. [But] he found his peace after helping Ali, and he evolved as a person through the finale. He opened himself up to possibilities, as Ali’s letter asked him to do, and I think Cara would have seen that his devotion to his family and friends would have trumped his decision to search for who’s behind the God account or choose the God account over them. Once she started to see that, I think she opened herself up again to the person that was the love of her life, which is Miles.
TVLINE | I loved that Rakesh and Jaya got back together. Was that something you always had planned for? Or were you just adamant about squeezing that in before the show ended?
LILIEN | [Laughs] No, we introduced Jaya at the end of Season 2 because we wanted to relaunch that [in Season 3]. It’s so funny, from the very pilot episode when Rakesh declares that there’s no such thing as a soulmate, and then he meets Jaya in the pilot, there was a great love story between them. We’ve joked, like, if this was 20 years in the future, they’d be married, they have kids, they have a family, they had an epic love story. It was really important for us to let the fans know that that was the intention, and we wanted to let them know that that’s how they ended up.
TVLINE | And how did you decide on what Ali’s future was going to be like, especially after you put her through such a rough time this season?
LILIEN | That was the plan for Season 3… She had already started to have a question of whether she wanted to be a therapist, and she was at a crossroads. And then we wanted the idea of when she made it through the other side of cancer that [in] Season 3, she was going to make the decision to go into the seminary, follow in Arthur’s footsteps. That was actually always the plan. It was just sort of, like Bryan said, finding that footage that we had to illustrate that her future was up on that pulpit, speaking to people.
TVLINE | A feel-good show like this is such a rarity. What did it mean to you to bring the show to TV? And what do you hope viewers take away from it?
WYNBRANDT | It was a dream come true for us to be able to do this show, to be able to make it with the cast and our crew and our writers. The love that we have for the show, it really comes through in the episodes, and I hope what people take away from it is this message of just taking care of one another, looking out for one another and being open-minded to each other regardless of our differences.
LILIEN | We always talked about we didn’t want to have violence and guns in our show. And till the end, it wasn’t a show about that. It was a show truly about just people helping people, and we’re really proud of being able to stay true to that for 42 episodes.
What did you think of the series ender? Grade it below, then hit the comments!
I will miss this show a LOT!
I really enjoyed the series and I’m sorry it had to end especially with this covid-19 virus being part of the reason you had to end it…
I think we need Godfriended Me to continue, to get us through this pandemic! We will miss you! I think the “she” was referred to Mile’s mom
I was thinking the same thing, but I think he died somehow and that was his vision of Heaven and his Mom was there waiting for him.
My wife thinks that is correct, kind of like the ending to Lost.
Best 20 minutes spent weeping I’ve had in a long time. The show did justice to the best of Humanity in all of us, hopefully.
BTW & FYI: God/Goddess Does Exist!
Peace and Love To All! ✌️🖖😇😎
I think “she” is Priya
I missed the point of the ending. Who was the she in the She’s waiting for you. Is OT God is a she?
I think the point is that we aren’t supposed to know. I yelled at my TV when we didn’t get to follow to see who the “she” was. But, with a little processing time and after reading this article, I get it. I don’t think they ever expected us to think it was actually God behind the account. There was a person who used coding/predictive technology behind it. Whoever it is, it’s a she. But, I think they left it open to interpretation. Yours may be different. I think it was mean to show that what mattered was that Miles was helping people. It showed us in that montage at the end how lives had been impacted. But, could you clarify your last sentence? I think there is a typo in there. “Is OT God is a she?” That doesn’t quite make sense. I don’t know what you mean by OT either.
My interpretation was that the God account was really God behind it. I missed the “she” at the end and heard “He”, haha. I like how some people think he should get to meet his mother. Perhaps the series will resurrect after a couple of years. I really liked the ending. It was probably okay to use she as people don’t really get to meet God, and it keeps people wondering. It was a good twist.
I am saddened to see this show end, it was one of my favorite shows. I also heard He at the ending. Just a bummer that’s all. Was a good clean show.
I am heartbroken over the cancellation of such a heartwarming show. My family and I loved the whole cast too. Can this show be picked up by another network or cable! Please save this gem of a show.💝
I agree, I am heartbroken also. I also think someone should bring this wonderful show back. Especially gives an hour of compassion, empathy, caring and an hour of peace in this time of turmoil, greed and lies. The writers are amazing, the cast is so talented and cohesive in the script. I loved how the episodes were intertwined. I am so in shock that I won’t see this next sunday ! I was upset when the show was pre-empted by anything else. I hope you win many awards for this unique show. Thank You.
Totally agree with Margaret and hope for a return in the future.!!!
“Old Testament”?
Seriously, Liz? OT is an abbreviation for Old Testament.
The commenter simply put in a second “is” by mistake.
My first thought was she is his mom. Not sure but it may have been a dream sequence where he shes his mother. That was my interpretation.
I really like that interpretation and the writers said above that they liked that too!
I didn’t like the ending. I mean..it is so open to so much interpretations that it would be better just to avoid the mountain footage and just leave the voiceover explaining that Miles continued to help other human beeings with or (better) without the account of God. It just looked to me more an ending with the only purpose to let the audience talk about it than a solid ending. Also the love story of Miles, so important for the audience…just closed in a few words in a voice over…
It all just looked to me like they had to close the serie in a few hours…you know..like in school times the teacher tells you that you have to do a surprising homework for the day after..and you haven’t the time to do a good work. This is all in my opinion obviously. Bye
It was the devil all along
Seriously, you are evil to say this.
I think she is his mother in spirit form who had passed on.
Bawled through the 2 hours. I don’t want it to end!!!! I will miss this show so much!
Bring it back
Our families favorite show
We need more shows like this! It really is a shame the show was cancelled.
Enjoyed the finale. Devastated it is over. God Friended Me was the one “feel good” show that I watched weekly. Always felt better after watching
Made me have faith. Im going to miss it.
I was shocked and saddened this was canceled. Why can’t they just shoot it in a set versus on the street. It’s the onky good thing on Sunday night. Please bring it back.
I hope all of us wanting them to bring the show back are actually emailing CBS and telling them this!
I hope this program is renewed!! It was great not watching shootings, bed scenes n hateful people. I liked how families can come together with a little help. Just a great show!!
Yes, ‘reality TV’ and the like is such a downer. Watched all the episodes and it was a very enjoyable series, will miss. But in the meantime in this sequestration, I am reading the book 12 patients life and death at Bellevue Hospital by Eric Manheimer MD. And so therefore watching all the episodes of New Amsterdam, the book on which it is based. Though has some ‘reality’ elements to it, it also has substance and meaning in this these days. Stay well.🤓
My wife loved the show and are very sad it had to end. So many shows nowadays are filled with violence it was nice to have a feel good show with characters you cared about. Too bad it had to end.
Me too!!
This was an uplifting show that my family looked forward to every week. I am disappointed the show ended. I hope they bring it back for season 3
Disappointed in the ending. It was so good to just end so abruptly. And who the heck is she? We didn’t get to see Miles reaction.
Maybe it is the “hook” to eventually get us a season 3, lol.
Thank you to the writers and all the characters…you never gave up and created a show that made people aware.. feel good. This show carried me through my hubby passing and for this I am forever grateful.
I wish you could only know …
Much love and success to all
I would have liked to know who she is. However, I understand why you decided to leave it up to the individual. I will miss this sow. I loved it
I read the article. No real answer as to why end something this modern this good? Today’s television is crap, until something like this comes along in a time we need it most.
Thank You, though short lived. It’s almost like the devil got scared and worked it out this way, if one believes in that sort of thing.
They didn’t really seem to have much of a choice in the fact that it was ending and I think they did the best they could with it.
It. Got. Canceled.
It.Wasn’t.Cancelled. The executive producers pulled it because renewal didn’t seem likely. They hadn’t gotten an official cancellation.
It. Was. Canceled.
.
CBS is unfriending the Almighty: The Eye network has cancelled God Friended Me after two seasons. A two-hour series finale will air Sunday, April 26 at 8/7c.
.
In a statement, CBS and Warner Bros. Television said of the cancelation: “We’re extremely proud of the unique concept and uplifting stories God Friended Me has told over the past two seasons. We thank the brilliant cast, writers, production team and crew for a show that stirred thoughtful conversation about faith, life and happiness, and made viewers feel good at the end of each episode.
“The creative team behind the show has one last ‘friend suggestion’ in mind, as well as an ending we hope brings a satisfying conclusion to Miles’ journey in search of the God Account.”
I agree! We need the wholesome shows. I believe your devil assessment comment. Too bad! Maybe it will return some day
This show really did a great job with the finale. I believe it left room for it to be picked up by another network. I sure hope it gets picked up elsewhere.
Me too.
I also pray some other visionary network will pick it up and NOT solely look at the balance sheet. Too MANY family oriented shows are cancelled. Public appetites for wholesome shows CAN be addressed. If shows glamorizing Evil can be televised, why not a show EMPHASIZING HOPE?
So you just gave up the show. Instead of waiting for everything to go back to normal and starting your new season all fresh and pretty you gave up. This was one of the best things out there, I can’t believe you gave up and are not coming back. I would think you’d realize we need something like this. Me and my family will miss the show.
They said it was becoming clear that they wouldn’t be coming back. They didn’t just give up. They realized they wouldn’t be getting a chance to come back. So, they did what they could.
It. Got. Canceled.
I know it’s disappointing. I don’t think they gave up but it wasn’t renewed. As someone else said, perhaps another network will sponsor it…ya never know. It’s too bad we didn’t get to see the romances in “slower mode”, but I’m very glad they tied up all the loose ends with the exception of “she”.
Any chance of the show coming back in some form? I just can’t believe its over so soon. One of my favorites.
Please renew the show. We need shows like that in this world of uncertainty. We need to see people helping each other and trying to make our lives/ other people lives more meaningful and happier
I’m sadden by the ending of God Friended Me. Great cast, like storylines and the wonderful message of caring for others.
With everything going on, the series being cancelled did floor me! It was one of the very few new series I have invested in. Extremely well-written, thought out and inspiring. The casting was perfect. I’m almost 75 and have a very wide and diverse list of interests. I’m a glass half-full person and in these times, God Friended Me was a glass half-full. Of course I am sorry it ended, but thank everyone for the excellent gift you have given. Donna Bailey
We loved this show! Uplifting and positively a feel good moment each week. Please produce more shows like this!
Thank you!
Goodbye my friend
I took the ‘she’ to be his mother. He died and went to live with her and God.
He didn’t die. He was literally recording a podcast about what happened and how he wound up on the mountain. I know they left it to be open to interpretation. But, I don’t think it was supposed to be implied that he was dead.
Maybe he died in that subway crash and everything that happened thereafter was his version of the afterlife, but he wasn’t ready to leave and go to heaven yet until a year later when he was finally at peace. The “she” who was waiting for him was his mother in heaven who was waiting for him to finally be at peace and accept God, so that he could join her… The writers left it up to interpretation and this is one possible interpretation.
Oh my, did not think of that as a possible ending. He could have died in the crash, and all the happy endings from the moment he wakes up on the subway is his afterlife, and he meets his mom on the mountain.
Yes, I thought of it more as a vision or figurative. However, I guess him dying would be another interpretation. Hopefully they will get their 3rd season eventually and they can resolve this. Perhaps it was their “hook” to get a 3rd season, LOL.
This was a fantastic show. No violence, just helping people. I’m really sad that it has ended. I looked forward to the show every week. I’m going to miss it 😢.
It make me really sad the show won’t be on anymore I looked forward to Sunday’s I really loved the show as far as the ending the first thing to come to mind when the young boy said she’ll see you was his mother for me because he lost his faith and he got it back, I’ll miss the show a lot thank you
I’m very sad that you ended the show. My whole family loved the show. I wish you would have done at least one more season.
It. Got. Canceled.
This is your third time making this same comment and I laugh every time I see it. Keep up the good work.
LOL
Yes we know it got cancelled.. People are mourning a loss. it’s clear the show wasn’t successful in teaching you empathy .
After the Game of Thrones ending I was still a little leery about a bad ending. Thank you for the happy ending!!! It had an ending fans can be proud of.
My husband and I tried all week to figure out who was behind the God account. Although we were wrong at every turn, the overwhelming theme became more apparent. Have faith, help others and your life will be immeasurably changed. I hope the show gets picked up by another station. This was a case where the executives truly made the wrong decision, especially with what is going on in the world today.
I agree. This show was helping me with the isolation due to the pandemic
I am sadden that such an excellent show had to come to an end.This show was such a blessing because it showed that to touch and help people is to touch Good as well.Thank you so very much.