Violett Beane as Cara Bloom, and Brandon Micheal Hall as Miles Finer in GOD FRIENDED ME – Season 2 – “All Those Yesterdays” | ©2018 Warner Bros./David Giesbrecht

In CBS’s GOD FRIENDED ME, now in its second season on Sunday nights, atheist podcaster Miles Finer (Brandon Micheal Hall) is thrown for a loop when someone claiming to be God friends him on Facebook. More, whoever has the God account keeps making suggestions that improve Miles’s life and helps him to assist strangers.

Violett Beane plays journalist Cara Bloom, who tries to help Miles find out who is actually running the God account. Last season, evidence pointed to wealthy, philanthropic tech mogul Simon Hayes (Adam Goldberg), but he turned out to be just an ordinary, albeit ethical, good guy. Miles and Cara have feelings for one another, but at the end of Season 1, she followed her career take her to Paris. In Season 2, we see whether absence has made hearts grow fonder, and of course, if there are any more clues to what’s really going on with Miles’s mysterious FB friend.

Berlanti Productions is one of the companies involved in making GOD FRIENDED ME. Berlanti Productions is also responsible for the ARROW-verse over on CBS’ sister network The CW, where Beane had an arc as speedster Jesse Wells on THE FLASH. Beane also had an arc on THE RESIDENT last year, appeared on THE LEFTOVERS, and has had roles in the movies SLASH, TRUTH OR DARE, and FLAY.

At a CBS Q&A panel for GOD FRIENDED ME, Beane explains why Cara continues to help Miles on his quest of discovery. “She was actually a friend suggestion that could have just been a one-off. But there’s a reason why she sticks around, whether it be because she’s a reporter and she loves a story, or she likes the new friendship. But there’s definitely a reason why she’s there.”

As to Cara’s beliefs, Beane relates, “Cara can’t help but notice all of the signs that have been happening with the God account. I think more than believing or not believing, for her, it feels so good to help people, and she gets to see that pay off. It’s not something where you donate to a charity, and you hope it works out. She actually is physically meeting these people, having conversations with them, helping them out, writing stories about it that then further helps other people. So I think, for her, that’s what really draws her to the God account, and to Miles, and to helping these people.”

Asked about whether GOD FRIENDED ME has had any effect on her own thoughts about religion, Beane replies, “I think it would be hard of hard to not ever think about faith and religion with a show like this. Personally, I was raised Quaker, and I went to meetings every Sunday for most of my childhood. I kind of stopped going when I left the house, but since moving to New York, I actually live reasonably close to a Quaker meeting. And I’m thinking about going again, which I don’t think I maybe would have paid attention to until later in my life [if not for GOD FRIENDED ME]. So I do think that it’s something that comes up, and something that you are constantly thinking about. Cara’s perspective of really caring for people and their stories, and wanting to hear them, has definitely impacted me when I speak to people that I don’t know.”

Camaraderie among the cast, Beane believes, helps make the relationships in GOD FRIENDED ME more convincing. “We all just really get along and enjoy spending time with one another. And I think that [shows] on camera.”

ASSIGNMENT X: When you were on THE FLASH, did Berlanti/Schechter-Land come to you and say, “We’ve got this thing,” or did you have to audition for GOD FRIENDED ME?

VIOLETT BEANE: Yeah. I auditioned when they were testing the character, the role. They had tested it before, they didn’t find who they wanted, and I went in, and I met with these guys for my audition. And it actually was almost a reason why I didn’t get it, because they don’t like to cross-pollinate, and do those things, unless it’s [within] the ARROW-verse. But I think the guys just thought that it was the right fit, and I got it.

Violett Beane as Cara Bloom in GOD FRIENDED ME – Season 2 – “All Those Yesterdays” | ©2019 Warner Bros./Barbara Nitke

AX: Will you be guesting back on THE FLASH, or are you completely off THE FLASH?

BEANE: I would love to. I think it would be really fun, and I love all the people over there, but we’ll see. Jesse’s not gone, she’s just on another Earth.

AX: Do you do any running on GOD FRIENDED ME?

BEANE: You know, what’s really funny is, Cara’s a jogger, she’s a runner. It’s kind of a joke of my life, because I can’t run at all, I’m so awkward and terrible. But I’ve gotten two roles where they are runners. So yeah, we’ve done a few scenes running through Central Park with Cara’s mom. I’ve gotten some FLASH fans who comment, saying, “Still running,” stuff like that.

AX: On social media, have you gotten anybody who’s been a little confused and thinks there really is a God Friended Me account, and asks you about it?

BEANE: Oh, totally. People constantly are messaging things like that. Or they think you are the character. That happened a lot with FLASH, specifically. But yeah. Definitely, people are like, “What would I do if God friended me?” and these kinds of things.

AX: But Cara isn’t a hundred percent convinced that the entity who runs the account is actually God, right?

BEANE: I don’t think so. I think Cara is riding the wave, and experiencing the things that she’s experiencing. But I do think that, more so than Miles, she sees these connections, and it’s getting to a point where she doesn’t think it’s all coincidence. And I think her point of view, too, is she likes a challenge, she likes a fight, so when she’s going through these things with Miles, and she knows that he’s on the completely other side of things, it pushes her to believe in something else.

Violett Beane in GOD FRIENDED ME – Season 1 | ©2018 Warner Bros./Jeff Riedell

AX: Cara spent a good part of Season 1 believing that tech whiz Simon Hayes, played by Adam Goldberg, may have been behind the account …

BEANE: I think she totally believed it. She’s logical. I think she believes and is spiritual, but I also think that she’s logical. She’s a journalist, so she wants to see all the pieces put into place, she doesn’t want to believe something until it’s proven. So I think the Simon Hayes thing for sure for her [was], “This is a great lead, we need to follow this.” And so she often teams up with Rakesh [Suraj Sharma], and they do their hacking things [to get evidence].

AX: And what would you most like people to know about GOD FRIENDED ME?

BEANE: Just that there are some really amazing stories coming up.

This interview was conducting during CBS’s portion of the Television Critics Association (TCA) press tour.

Related: GOD FRIENDED ME: Javicia Leslie chats about her new CBS dramedy

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Article: GOD FRIENDED ME: Violett Beane talks about Season 2 – Exclusive Interview

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