The Irrational returns to NBC on November 26 after an extra week off in the fall 2024 TV schedule, and the new episode will have a new dynamic to dig into as Alec's duo of research assistants becomes a trio. Phoebe's return is undoubtedly a welcome development for fans who have been missing having her around as much as she was in Season 1, but what about Simon Wylton, who came on board as Phoebe's replacement? Max Lloyd-Jones, the Season 2 newcomer playing Simon, spoke with CinemaBlend about playing the replacement and the "tension and drama" to come.
Max Lloyd-Jones' role on The Irrational is undoubtedly quite different from what he'll deliver as part of the cast of Final Destination 6, but his story on the NBC drama is evidently about the get juicier. After addressing how his character has had to adjust relationships (and perks of working with Jesse L. Martin), I asked what his experience has been like building the friendship between Simon and Rizwan with co-star Arash DeMaxi. The actor brought up Phoebe in his response, saying:
That's been really fun. Obviously, a lot of big shoes to fill. Molly Kunz's character as Phoebe was obviously a very important part of their dynamic in Season 1, of their research assistant team. So I definitely wanted to bring a bit of a different energy... I think they were being a little more competitive in the beginning of the first season. In this one, I wanted to come in [differently], and I think the writers really embraced that, as well as a bit of a bromance between the two.
Nobody can accuse The Irrational from just designing a Phoebe 2.0 to take her place after she decided to leave the team at the end of Season 1! As Max Lloyd-Jones mentioned, a "bit of a bromance" has developed between his character and Rizwan, and it should be interesting to see if that's affected at all by the return of Phoebe when she and Rizwan had had their own way of approaching cases. On the subject of the bromance, Lloyd-Jones continued:
I like that we leaned into that, and I think it was really fun. We see a lot in TV and movies of especially male characters being hyper competitive from the start. And I thought it was an interesting take on these two guys who seem a little more comfortable in their masculinity, to become so close so quickly. Especially in this… last episode of Simon opening up so emotionally with Rizwan. I thought that was new and was necessary.
As viewers may remember from the last episode before the break (which you can revisit streaming with a Peacock subscription), Simon opened up to Rizwan about his brother who had committed suicide years ago, which his mother had concealed from him for a very long time. The decision not only shed more light on Simon as a character, but also added some more depth to the bromance... shortly before Phoebe's return.
It remains to be seen what the trio's dynamic will look like after Simon settled into Alec's team as part of a duo with Rizwan, and The Irrational still has plenty of Season 2 left extending into the 2025 TV schedule. When I asked Max Lloyd-Jones what he could preview about the new dynamic between the three research assistants, he shared:
It's a new dynamic, obviously, when you throw any new blood into a co-working relationship, especially because I think this is somewhat unique in a show that I haven't seen before, in that they have a history prior, but I've kind of filled the spot and been essentially in her role for a little while now.
In a way, everybody except for Rizwan is dealing with "new blood" being added into a relationship. Simon of course has only worked with Rizwan as a peer so far, and Phoebe is returning to a team that has changed in some key ways despite an existing friendship with Rizwan. Of course, they're all adults who are literally experts in studying human behavior, so perhaps they'll be able to deal with any tension quickly... but, as the show has proved over and over again, anybody can be irrational. Lloyd-Jones went on:
It's a new dynamic of having to decide who's going to be calling the shots and who has the most experience. Obviously, Phoebe will have had that having been on it longer, but she left, and now I'm here. It's a fun dance, and we play around with that throughout a lot of the season, trying to find out the dynamic that's going to work best for all of us. There's some fun tension and drama that comes from that.
You'll have to tune into the new episode on November 26, called "The Wrong Side of Maybe," to see exactly what the trio is like in their first case working together, but a sneak peek suggests that there's going to be an adjustment period for everybody. Whether that means Phoebe picking up a ping pong paddle by the time the credits roll is a question after the video below:
The Irrational clearly isn't dropping the plot of Alec possibly removing the scars from the terrible fire that drove much of Season 1. See what the show does next for Alec and his newly-expanded team with new episodes on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC, following new episodes of The Voice. You can also revisit past episodes streaming on Peacock now.
