Abbi Jacobson Asked Pal D'Arcy Carden to Join 'A League of Their Own' in a 'Romantic' Way

The longtime friends previously starred on Broad City together — and now, they're gearing up to star in A League of Their Own for Prime Video

Photo: Rob Kim/Getty for Tribeca Festival

Abbi Jacobson pulled out all the stops to get her longtime friend, D'Arcy Carden, on board for A League of Their Own.

At the upcoming Prime Video show's Tribeca Film Festival premiere on Monday, Carden opened up to PEOPLE about how she decided to sign onto the project.

"I knew she had been working on this for a while," Carden, 42, said of Jacobson. "I was doing The Good Place at the time, and it didn't really seem like a possibility. I just couldn't wait to see it and hear about it."

Fortunately for Carden, the timing worked out in her favor — and Jacobson, therefore, took a unique approach in officially asking her friend to join the series.

"The way timing worked out, it really fell at the exact perfect time," she said. "She dropped a little baseball mitt outside my house and asked me to be on the show. It was really romantic. It was really cute."

Carden now plays Greta opposite Jacobson's leading character, Carson Shaw. Jacobson only had positive things to say about her best friend of 15 years' performance on the series: "You're getting to see a very different side of D'Arcy in this show."

A League Of Their Own. Courtesy of Prime Video

The two Broad City alums' new show is a reimagining of the iconic 1992 film starring Geena Davis, Tom Hanks and Madonna. Both follow the story of the real-life, trailblazing women in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in the 1940s.

Jacobson believes the film "didn't need a remake," though she felt it "only told one part of" the stories of the real-life female athletes who inspired it.

"We really wanted to show and dive deeper into their real stories a little bit more. What was it like for other women who have dreamed of playing baseball?" she said.

"It's not just about the American Girl's league. Max's character played by Chanté Adams is inspired by three women, Mamie Johnson, Toni Stone and Connie Morgan, who went on to play in the negro leagues with men. Historically, the All American Girl's League did not allow Black women to try out," she continued. "It was really, like, a white-passing thing. So, what was their journey? That was such a fascinating story, to create a new character inspired by them and really follow her path to find her team, too. What does that look like?"

Though the show deals with some very serious themes, the cast had a blast filming on location in Pittsburgh and even got to partake in a baseball boot camp together.

Carden described the experience as "hard" but "real," explaining how the women had to work on getting the basics with weeks-long, early morning sessions. She added that "real baseball players" were brought in to perform the bigger stunt work on-camera after they "got good" at doing the less complicated stuff.

But the training, along with being around each other, ultimately helped the cast grow closer.

"We really felt like a team," Carden added. "We started before the pandemic and we were shooting up until this last fall. So we really got to know each other really well and, you know, stay close throughout the year."

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Jacobson can also attest to the closeness of the cast. "I do feel like from the beginning, everyone really gets along," she recalled.

"We also had to go to Pittsburgh for five months. It was like we were at summer camp," she added. "I really feel very lucky with this ensemble.

A League of Their Own premieres on Aug. 12 on Prime Video.