The surname used in D’Arcy Carden’s fake casting role, Janet Della-what, was Denunzio.
When NBC announced Carden’s casting in March 2016, the character was presented as “Janet Della-Denunzio,” described as a violin salesperson with a checkered past. The announcement made the character sound like an ordinary recurring human role, helping conceal Janet’s real identity as an artificial being who assists residents of the afterlife.
The casting description was intentionally misleading. The Good Place’s creators later revealed that “Janet Della-Denunzio” was a hoax rather than a genuine backstory. Carden ultimately played Janet, an advanced, cheerful information source who can provide objects, knowledge, and assistance to residents of the Good Place. Despite her name, Janet is not a human woman and is not technically a genie or robot.
The name is easy to confuse with the show’s many other invented surnames, including Eleanor Shellstrop, Chidi Anagonye, Tahani Al-Jamil, and Jason Mendoza. The exact surname in the fake announcement is Denunzio, completing “Della-Denunzio.”