Yahoo Lifestyle Why Jason Segel Wanted to 'Break' Brett Goldstein's “Ted Lasso” Persona with “Shrinking” Season 2
"I knew secretly that he wanted to play that part and I knew he would kill it," Segel explained, before drawing his personal experiences with his 'HIMYM' role
Monica Schipper/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty; Leon Bennett/Getty
(L-R) Jason Segel; Brett Goldstein.Jason Segel's ploy to help Brett Goldstein to shed his Ted Lasso character was born out of first-hand experience.
At the Oct. 7 premiere of Shrinking season 2 in Los Angeles, Calif. the actor, 44, told multiple outlets, including PEOPLE, why he wanted to cast Goldstein in a surprisingly dark and pivotal role in the upcoming season.
"Brett's capable of doing anything," Segel said, noting how Goldstein's been closely tied to the project from the beginning as writer and co-creator. "And I knew secretly that he wanted to play that part and I knew he would kill it."
Related: Jason Segel Talks About How He Dealt with 'Tough Stuff' in Life: 'I Laughed My Way Through It'
Eric McCandless / CBS / Courtesy Everett; Apple TV+
(L-R) Jason Segel as Marshall Eriksen on How I Met Your Mother; Brett Goldstein as Roy Kent on Ted Lasso.The Freaks and Geeks alum then explained how his role as Marshall Erickson on How I Met Your Mother made it difficult for audiences to see him as anything other than the friendly Minnesota native.
"I have a lot of experience being Marshall Erickson and then working to have people see me as other characters, and I know that he probably deals with that as Roy Kent," he continued, referring to Goldstein's Ted Lasso character. "I just wanted to be the voice to say, 'No, do something totally different. Let's break that now.' And he's amazing in the show."
Segel played the lovable role of Marshall on How I Met Your Mother, which followed Ted (Josh Radnor) telling his children the long-winded love story about their mother while navigating adulthood in N.Y.C with his four best friends.
Related: Alyson Hannigan Has a Clever Idea for a How I Met Your Mother Spinoff (Exclusive)
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(L-R) Neil Patrick Harris, Cobie Smulders, Josh Radnor, Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan on 'How I Met Your Mother'The beloved sitcom aired from 2005 to 2014 and even birthed a gender-flipped spinoff titled, How I Met Your Father, starring Hilary Duff. Original cast members Neil Patrick Harris and Cobie Smulders even made guest appearances on the show.
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Before the spinoff was cancelled after two seasons in Sept. 2023, Segel told Entertainment Tonight that he would be more than happy to reprise his role in the series.
"Those people changed my life, and I would do anything they ever asked me to," he said of the show's co-creators, Carter Bays and Craig Thomas.
Shrinking season 2 premieres Oct. 16 on Apple TV+.
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