Season 2 of Netflix’s Nobody Wants This found an unexpected way to reference Timothy Simons‘ role on The Handmaid’s Tale.
During the sophomore season, which premiered on Thursday, October 23, Esther (Jackie Tohn) and Sasha (Simons) were discussing his mother Bina’s (Tovah Feldshuh) investment in them expanding their family again.
“She is f***king nuts if she thinks she is in charge of me having a whole ass baby,” Esther told Sasha. “Is this The Handmaid’s Tale?”
She continued: “I never saw past season 1, but I don’t think it gets any better for the gals.”
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Based on Margaret Atwood’s novel of the same name, The Handmaid’s Tale takes place in a dystopian future where low fertility rates have led women to be assigned to men for bearing children. The series, which premiered in 2017 and ended in May, starred Elisabeth Moss, Yvonne Strahovski, Madeline Brewer, Ann Dowd, O-T Fagbenle, Max Minghella, Samira Wiley and Amanda Brugel.
The nod to the hit Hulu series didn’t go unnoticed considering Simons’ role as Commander Bell in the final season. The character wasn’t received well before having a gruesome onscreen death ahead of the revolution.
“He literally plays a commander on the Handmaid’s Tale. This is the humor i like,” read a TikTok comment, while someone else added, “He was such an awful person in Handmaid’s Tale and he’s so likeable here.”
Simons’ return as Sasha on Nobody Wants This got much more praise as viewers tuned in to see the fan-favorite character again.
“Going into season 2, it was important to us to show Sasha as the unlikely great husband who knows how to stand by his wife,” creator Erin Foster told Netflix’s Tudum earlier this month.
Season 2 revealed that Sasha and Esther’s marriage issues were far worse than expected. After having a pregnancy scare, Sasha and Esther realized they were in different places with their relationship, which led to them agreeing to a separation by the time the season ended.
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“Holding on even tighter isn’t going to help anything. It’s not going to make her happier,” Simons, 47, told Tudum about where the characters could go from here. “He has to give her space to go do that, and ultimately, he does.”
Tohn, 45, meanwhile, offered a glimpse into Esther’s state of mind.
“She has this realization of, ‘If given the opportunity, is this the person that I would’ve picked? I don’t know. I love him. We have a wonderful thing, but I also realize that I’m pent up, angry, and want to sow my oats as Esther,’” Tohn added. “There’s something missing, and that might be work she has to do on herself. But she can’t come to that conclusion while they’re together.”
Nobody Wants This is streaming on Netflix.
