After appearing as everyone’s favorite Mythrol chemist Junn Gobint in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, comedian and consistent TV highlight Jeff Garlin started to hit a rough patch in regards to his former broadcast home on The Goldbergs. The actor bowed out of the ABC sitcom in the midst of Season 9, with some awkward CGI trickery thrown in ahead of his character Murray being killed off between season. Since then, Garlin has been more or less absent from the small screen, and while we know he’s a lock to return for the next season HBO’s Emmy-nominated Curb Your Enthusiasm, he also just lined up another new role for a fan-favorite streaming series.
Jeff Garlin has signed on to join the cast of the Netflix comedy Never Have I Ever Season 4, though it presumably won’t be a role we’ll get used to seeing him in for years on end. Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher’s coming-of-age tale is in the midst of putting together its fourth and final season, and I can’t imagine “incoming older white dude” would be an ideal spinoff character for this particular series.
According to Deadline, Garlin is joining the world of Never Have I Ever as a character named Len, who’s described as being a nice dude that knows more than a thing or two about sandwich preparation. (He doesn’t seem to have a talking dog or a penchant for solving mysteries, in case anyone thought this season might cross over with Mindy Kaling’s upcoming Velma series.) While not a ton of details were shared, it sounds like Len will play an advisory role for Ranjita Chakravarty’s Nirmala, as far as her relationship situation goes, and whether or not she’ll stick to the notion of swearing off of them for all time. I think we can probably expect Devi to have a few thoughts about her grandmother’s romancing as well.
Never Have I Ever is heading into its final season with wedding bells set to chime, though fans aren’t yet aware of who will be making that walk down the aisle. Nirmala certainly has a shot at it, depending on how decent Len is at offering advice, but it could also be Devi’s mom, as the good doc will welcome a new love interest played by Devious Maids vet Ivan Hernandez. Other options are out there, of course, but speculation will only make it seem like the season is taking that much longer to get here.
Before the Netflix comedy returns to its loving fanbase, it’s possible we could see Jeff Garlin back in the role of Jeff Greene in Season 12 of Curb Your Enthusiasm, which will welcome back beloved guest star Richard Lewis after a health-related absence in the eleventh season. That season is currently filming, though, so it’s equally possible that we’ll see Len’s arrival before Jeff and Susie’s return.
This marks Jeff Garlin’s first casting news since his high-profile exit from The Goldbergs. In the middle of the ABC sitcom’s ninth season, which kicked off with a tribute to the late, great George Segal, rumors swirled that the actor was being fired for being difficult on the set. And seemingly before he was finished denying said rumors, it was reported that he’d exited the comedy on mutual (if not entirely amicable) terms. For the rest of the season, the producers used a mix of archival audio, lookalike stand-ins, and digitally altered footage to keep Garlin’s Murray around the house. Wisely, though, the decision was made between seasons to kill Murray off and keep the other characters’ stories going on without having to shoehorn absent characters in.
All three prior seasons of Never Have I Ever are available to stream with a Netflix subscription. While waiting for Season 4 to arrive next year, head to our 2023 TV premiere schedule to see what’ll be popping up in the meantime.
