For seven years, Timothy Simons was the man audiences loved to loathe. As Jonah Ryan on HBO’s Veep, he was a political sycophant defined by a vocabulary of grotesque insults that made him, in the words of The Daily Beast, a character “who would never be attractive to anyone.” But in the third season of Netflix’s Nobody Wants This, which premiered on October 22, the 48-year-old actor is shedding the skin of the “whale pube” and stepping into a role that has left viewers—and even a few self-described cynics—genuinely swooning.
Simons plays Sasha Roklov, the brother of Adam Brody’s rabbi protagonist. While the show’s first season established Sasha as a goofy sidekick, the latest arc finds him navigating a separation from his wife, Esther, and an electric, complicated chemistry with his sister-in-law’s podcast co-host, Morgan, played by Justine Lupe. It is a pivot that has forced Simons to confront a question he rarely faced during his Veep tenure: Can he be a romantic lead?
Trading Political Vitriol for Romantic Vulnerability
Rolling Stone reported that Simons, who spent years playing a character synonymous with human resources nightmares, is now tapping into an inner life that feels both mature and surprisingly earnest. The character’s journey this season—rebuilding a life after a stagnant marriage, setting up dating profiles, and rediscovering his identity—has inadvertently made him an unlikely heartthrob.
Simons admits this is entirely new terrain. “There are definitely times in the past where I would have run from this,” he told Rolling Stone during a candid coffee meeting in Manhattan. “But we all get older. My main goal is for people to watch something that I’m in and think, ‘I didn’t know he could do that.’”
The actor notes that the lack of a clear roadmap for Sasha’s romantic future actually strengthened his performance. By not knowing whether there was an eventual plan to get his character together with Morgan, Simons was able to lean into the ambiguity of his relationships. Unlike the classically classic romantic comedy tropes, the chemistry between Simons and Lupe is defined by a funhouse mirror version of a romantic lead that keeps it natural.
The Chemistry of Two “Limb-Forward” Oddballs
One of the topics discussed by the cast is the dynamic between Sasha and Morgan. The physical reality of their pairing—Simons stands at six-foot-six, while Lupe is five-foot-nine—brought a unique set of practical challenges to the set.
‘Nobody Wants This’ Star Timothy Simons Makes Us Laugh. Can He Make Us Fall in Love? The actor talks about his pivot from pure comic relief to a legitimate romantic lead in the series' third season. Interview: https://t.co/GSI0De6G1Y pic.twitter.com/qoLsPCiNqz
“We’re limb-forward people,” Simons explained to Rolling Stone. “We were worried about looking like fucking Muppets when we kissed.” Despite these concerns, the chemistry has resonated with viewers, turning the pair into fan favorites. Lupe credits this to an “innate trust” built over their time working together, noting that the vulnerability they share onscreen is something they have earned over the course of the series.
The Daily Beast observed that the show succeeds because it avoids forcing these characters into traditional rom-com tropes. Instead of becoming suave or polished, Sasha and Morgan retain their inherent awkwardness. This “funhouse mirror” version of a romantic lead is exactly what allowed Simons to feel comfortable stepping into the role. He suggests that while he may never be the guy in the white T-shirt and cowboy hat getting cheers in the rain, he has found a niche that fits him perfectly: the offbeat romantic lead who feels human, flaws and all.
Redefining the Leading Man Archetype
Having built a career on supporting roles in projects ranging from Station Eleven and The Handmaid’s Tale to Joy Ride, Simons has proven his versatility. Yet, this is the first time he has been positioned as a serious romantic option.
He remains grounded about his future, acknowledging that he is “old enough to know the boundaries” of his own career.
Whether the series returns for a fourth season is undecided, but the narrative arc of Season Three has firmly established that Simons can do more than just make us laugh.
With the season now available for streaming, the discussion about whether a relationship between Sasha and Morgan could survive played out beyond online spaces as the cast often debated the topic in group interviews. If this is a new chapter for Simons, it proves that even a character once called a “Jolly Green Jizzface” can find his way to becoming an endearing romantic lead.
