Justine Lupe as Morgan, Timothy Simons as Sasha in 'Nobody Wants This' season four's New York episode. Courtesy of Netflix © 2026 Logo text [This story contains spoilers from Nobody Wants This season two.]
When Timothy Simons and Justine Lupe found out that this would be such a big season for their Nobody Wants This duo Sasha and Morgan, respectively, Simons said he and his co-star had some key concerns.
“We are very limb-forward people. We have a lot of arms,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter with a laugh. “Even weeks before we left [to film the] New York [episode], I said to our director, ‘Hey, can we talk about the blocking for this? Because we just don’t want to look like muppets.'”
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When it came time to film the seventh episode of season two, “Watch What Happens,” Simons said he and Lupe took the trust and responsibility of their story getting such a spotlight seriously. The result was a bottle episode that is getting rave reviews for taking Sasha and Morgan out of Los Angeles and landing them in a bed together, only to blow up their romance shortly after when Esther (Jackie Tohn), Sasha’s estranged wife, reveals she and Sasha also slept together. The finale leaves the trio, once again, in a love triangle. But it’s slightly different this time around.
“It’s a pretty mature choice for Sasha to be like, ‘This might be the right thing, but it’s the wrong time.’ I also think there was a fair amount of maturity in what Morgan did after years and years of not trying and running from things. So I don’t know which way it’s going to go,” he says of how season three ends, now that the hit Netflix series has been officially renewed for season four.
Below, the Veep actor shares his hopes for next season (the writers room has been up and running), and weighs in on co-star Adam Brody’s Gaza comments, how the show has shaped his views on religion and why Nobody Wants This is not likely to bring such conversations to the Roklov dinner table. “Adam and Erin are both immensely passionate about the views they’ve spoken to. I know they have spoken personally about it before. It’s always respectful,” he says.
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So whose idea was it to dye your hair blonde for the season?
I had done it for fun for the Emmys a couple of years ago, when we were there with the show after the first season. All the writers saw it sort of separately and each individually had the idea to write that in. Then they all got together and realized they all had that same thought, so they wrote it in and I had to keep it.
Were you over being a blonde by the end of filming?
I actually loved it and thought it fit the vibe, because Sasha is going through something. Although I wasn’t going through something, I could definitely see how it would fit someone like Sasha going through something. And I will say, if you have hair as short and dark as mine, it requires more upkeep than you think and is a bit of a continuity nightmare. I didn’t get sick of it through the entire season; I really did like it. But after, I did get sick of the upkeep so I’m back to brunette. I’m rocking my real self now and it feels good.
When did you find out this was going to be such a big season for Sasha and Morgan (Justine Lupe)? Can you take me inside that conversation with your creator/showrunners when they first laid it out for you?
Justine and I went into the writers room. They had outlined the entire season and pitched it out to Netflix, and Netflix OK’d it. We do that every year — we sit down and they bring us through the broad strokes. We talk about it a lot and throw out ideas that they can either take or leave. So it was in the writers room early on when we found out.
We’re a 10-episode show and they told us that episode seven was going to be dedicated to just the two of us. As a performer, that feels incredible that they have that amount of trust in Justine and I to hand over responsibility of a full episode just to us. That is immensely flattering. I think we both had the same reaction. We took that seriously. We took that trust and responsibility seriously.
Timothy Simons as Sasha, Justine Lupe as Morgan earlier in the season. Katrina Marcinowski/Netflix © 2026 That episode is getting raves for being like a mini rom-com bottle episode. You and Justine are close friends. What was it like to play out Sasha and Morgan’s sexual tension, and eventually sleep together?
We’ve always had similar styles, or at least similar thought processes on performance, which I think is why we get along so well and have chemistry. We have a lot of mutual friends. There was a lot of trust in Justine, at least on my side, from very early on.
We are very limb-forward people. We’re very lanky. We have a lot of arms. (Laughs.) And we just didn’t want to look like muppets when we ended up kissing. So we talked a lot to our director, Richard Shepard, who is incredible. Even weeks before we left for New York I was like, “Hey, can we talk about the blocking for this? Because we just don’t want to look like muppets.”
Because the moment they kiss, if that moment doesn’t work, then none of it works. You built it all up to that. And if we look like muppets, it would undercut the whole thing. But it’s our jobs and we’re close, and we joked around about it a lot. But both of us are professionals about it.
Did you see the twist coming of Sasha and Esther (Jackie Tohn) reuniting?
I didn’t. I feel like hooking up with your ex is a thing that has happened to a lot of people. You can’t just all of a sudden shake off a 20-year relationship and not have that come up again. I didn’t necessarily see it coming, but that felt like something that does naturally happen sometimes. So it did take me by surprise a little bit. But in a good way. Conflict and confrontations are good for drama!
The finale ends unresolved about who he is going to pick, if anyone. Where would you say his heart lies by the end of the season?
I’ve mentioned this to Justine before. Justine is such an incredible performer and can access such an immense vulnerability — especially in that scene in the parking garage. There were times as an actor that I was like, “Can we just fix this for her so she doesn’t have to feel like this?!” But there was a fair amount of maturity that I didn’t even realize until I watched the season. It’s a pretty mature choice for him to be like, “This might be the right thing, but it’s the wrong time.” I don’t think he’s ever said that before. He very much went along with whatever anyone else wanted for him, and so I do think it was a mature choice for him to make to be like, “It seems like not the right thing in either direction.”
So I don’t know which way it’s going to go. But it does seem like he is a little bit like, “I have to back off of both of these things for a little bit.”
Do you think Morgan could be mature enough to get over being burned by Sasha, if he does want to pursue a relationship with her?
I also think there was a fair amount of maturity in what Morgan did after years and years of not trying and running from things. And being willing to take a risk that she’s never taken before and not half-assing anything. I feel like if she is taking steps in that direction, and there could be a world. Also, I would throw in that they kind of burned one another. She kind of burned him when she ran away and he kind of burned her when she said no. So they are still at an even point.
Simons as Sasha with Jackie Tohn as Esther in the finale. Katrina Marcinowski/Netflix © 2026 We heard the writers room has been up. Erin Foster was recently said on Dax Shepard’s podcast that they were writing a role for him. Have any ideas been shared with you yet? [Note: This interview occurred before the official season four renewal.]
I would absolutely love to do more of it. I’ve enjoyed the cast and crew and writers and directors of this show immensely. So doing more of it? I’m 100 percent in favor for. But I’m not being cagey when I tell you that I don’t have any idea what they’re talking about, because I haven’t gone in to do the sit down yet.
What decisions would you like to see Sasha making in season four?
The writers are always coming up with better things than me. I have my personal feelings, but they will always come up with better ideas. Either way, he and Esther reconciling… clearly, they do love one another. They built a life together, so you’d like to see them work through that. Maybe they slip back into old habits and all that work he did to put himself together a little bit more goes by the wayside.
And I love the idea of two weirdos like Sasha and Morgan finding each other and that working out, but maybe that’s too messy with the family. There are pros and cons on either side, so I’m interested to see what the writers come up with.
This season got a lot of attention for two things. First, because of the big endings for both Noah (Adam Brody) and Joanne (Kristen Bell), and you and Morgan. But also because of your creator Erin Foster and co-stars responding to Brody’s Gaza comments. Do you feel like there is a responsibility for your writers and cast to speak out because the show is a Jewish show? How do you feel about it, and how do you feel about being asked about it?
Adam and Erin are both immensely passionate about the views they’ve spoken to. And I do think the way Erin said it… they work together really well. I know they have spoken personally about it before. It’s always respectful, and that’s one of the great things about Adam is that he is kind and thoughtful and empathetic and will talk to anybody, even if their views don’t align with his, to try to fight for a safer world for everybody. That’s what’s underneath all of it.
Erin said the show is a love letter to Judaism. After playing a Jewish character on this show, how has that shaped or informed your views on Judaism?
I’ve never been a religious person. I didn’t grow up religious. I had an Irish-Catholic grandmother, but religion was not a huge part of my family or my life coming into the show. But I will say, my dad passed away recently…
I’m so sorry.
Thank you. There was a moment when I got back to Los Angeles after the [funeral] service; we have neighbors who we’ve been good friends with since our kids were in kindergarten together, and they invited me to go to Shabbat at the temple they go to in our neighborhood. There’s a mourner’s circle [the Kaddish] and it was incredible to go to a temple and be welcomed in and be able to say my dad’s name out loud and a rabbi told me, “May his memory be a blessing.”
Even as a non-religious person — I’m certainly not a scholar — there are a lot of rituals surrounding death and mourning and grief that I have learned through this experience of learning more about Judaism that even if I am not religious, have given me a lot of comfort.
Shortly after my dad died, my college roommate died of brain cancer, so I’m in a mourner’s circle saying two names. You realize why religion has been around so long as a guide through moments of grief and to try to find some sense of comfort. That is something that, albeit, I did now know coming in[to this show]. There has been a lot of stuff I learned that has helped me in my day-to-day life because of this experience.
I’m really sorry about your friend and about your dad.
Thank you, I appreciate it. It’s been a little bit of a rough summer, but we’re working through it.
Adam Brody as Noah with Simons as Sasha in season three. Katrina Marchinowski/Netflix Nobody Wants This isn’t a political show. It’s a feel-good show. Have you had conversations with the writers about if the show would get more current as it goes, or is that not the ethos of the show? Will the extended Roklov family ever be arguing over the war at the dinner table?
Yeah, that has not been the language of this show so far, and I would also throw back to you that the writers always know better than me. If they want to find a way into that, [they will]. Just like I said before about a love triangle, they are going to know how to best attack it.
Your kids [14-year-old twins] love Nobody Wants This. When will you show them Veep?
I actually, for a very long time, had not appeared in a single project that they could have watched. (Laughs.) Now we are at a point where with some outliers, we can pretty much show them everything. We have a lot of movie nights as a family where we’ll show them Rear Window and Mad Max: Fury Road and John Wick. So I do think they are ready to watch Veep. However, there has to be a conversation about, “This is not language that you use in school or with teachers, or in any sort of important situation.”
Would you want to do a Veep revival, or is the real world still getting in the way of that?
Would I love to be in the room with all of those people again? The answer is 100 percent, yes. But we also live in a world that is un-satirizable. The show would be completely different and honestly, what are we going to do that’s dumber than what’s happening? We live in a world that’s beyond parody, so how could we possibly parody it? Would I love to work with those people again? That would be amazing. But I don’t know how it would fit.
I’m glad the show has stayed relevant and people still enjoy it and still see a reflection of the world now, even though we made it so long ago. It’s been six or seven years since it went off the air. That’s amazing. I would sacrifice a little bit of the longtail of the show if the world were a little bit less chaotic. I would really like for fewer people to tell me Veep was still relevant if the world was a little better.
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Nobody Wants This season two is now streaming all episodes on Netflix.
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