Jason Segel thinks if “Freaks and Geeks” were fast-forwarded to present day, his character Nick Andopolis would have long ago died while serving in the military.
“The sad answer to where I think Nick is now, in my mind, he gets sent off to war and doesn’t make it,” Segel revealed during a sit-down Q&A with GQ Magazine that had the actor reflecting on his roles over the years. Segel said he came to that conclusion and “was always thinking of playing him” with that conclusion due to the realities men of his age and socio-economic background faced during the 1980s.
Watch the full interview below:
“That was always, like, the threat looming for Nick, and that’s what happens to a lot of men of that generation and socio-economic statuses. That’s how I always was thinking of playing him,” Segel said, adding that the imaginary fate would be pretty on-brand for Nick.
“For Nick, the desperation in his character is that the alternative is not making it. That’s how he felt. Like, ‘I’m going to drum my way out of this. How sad, ’cause you’re not going to drum your way out of it,” Segel said.
“Freaks and Geeks,” set in the Detroit suburbs of 1980, aired for one season on NBC from 1999 to 2000, capping with 18 episodes.
Segel said the role in the cult-classic Judd Apatow series came about through the head of the acting department, Ted Walsh, who “noticed something in me.”
“I would go from basketball practice and games and then sneak off and go do acting. I was too shy to do, like, the big school plays, because I felt like I would get made fun of by the basketball team,” Segel explained. “But the head of the acting department, who just passed away last year, his name is Ted Walsh, who I owe my life and career to, he saw me do some of my, like, little plays that I would put on.”
Eventually, Walsh’s interest in Segel’s talent led him to putting a secret showcase together for the actor that casting directors from major studios attended. Ultimately, it led to his opportunity to star in “Freaks and Geeks.”
“I was brought in for a callback with James Franco, and we were as far as we knew, competing for the same part, because at the time, there was only one of those characters,” Segel said. “Daniel and Nick were just one character at the time. So we went in and we auditioned against each other. They liked us both, and they split the part, and he became the cool one, and I became the goofy one.”
