Season 2 of Netflix’s A Man on the Inside found a subtle way to acknowledge Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen‘s marriage.
During the season 2 premiere, which aired on Thursday, November 20, Charles (Danson) met Mona (Steenburgen) at a college where he was working on his next case as a private investigator. Their connection was so undeniable that Charles commented on their potential chemistry.
“You look so familiar,” Charles told Mona. “Could we have met before somehow?”
The rest of the season followed Charles and Mona’s blossoming romance, which was seemingly was headed for happily ever after. However, the fictional couple ultimately pulled the plug as season 2 came to an end because they realized how different they were as individual people.
Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen: A Timeline of Their Relationship
Off screen, Danson, 77, and Steenburgen, 72, originally met in the ’80s, but didn’t start dating until they reconnected on the set of Pontiac Moon one decade later. Steenburgen was previously married to Malcolm McDowell while Danson was married to Randy Gosch from 1970 to 1975 and Cassandra Coates from 1977 to 1993.
The couple have continued to work together since tying the knot in 1996. Danson and Steenburgen appeared on Gulliver’s Travels, Ink, Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Good Place together. Danson previously told Us Weekly that he wanted to work with Steenburgen “again” in the future.
“Once you meet her, you’ll understand,” he gushed in November 2024. “She’s magnificent and we love each other and we laugh a lot.”
Danson also shared the secret to a successful marriage at the time, adding, “We both get one ingredient in life, which is so important, that if something goes wrong, you look at yourself knowing and trusting the other person is looking at [themselves], which is what allows you to grow. If you’re with somebody who’s not willing to look at themselves, that doesn’t work.”
He concluded: “I love who she is, truly. If I could be a woman, I’d be her. She’s trained me well. I could do it. I swear I could do it.”
Danson’s costars from A Man on the Inside also had a front row seat to his devotion to Steenburgen. Mary Elizabeth Ellis and Lilah Richcreek Estrada recalled the fun fact they learned about Danson while working together on set.
“He really loves his wife. He talks about Mary a lot. It’s very sweet,” Ellis, 46, shared with Us at the time. “You’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so tired. I had to get up at five to get here.’ Then he answers, ‘Yeah, I had to get up at 3:30 because Mary and I needed our time together before I came here.’”
Estrada, 36, said it was “really cute” of Danson to get up early to do Wordle and crossword puzzles with Steenburgen.
“We learned that we like sleep,” Estrada joked before Ellis quipped, “And what I learned is that I’m not committed enough in my relationship. Nor do I care to be at 3:30 in the morning.”
A Man on the Inside is currently streaming on Netflix.
