Why Téa Leoni and Husband Tim Daly Felt Compelled to Make New Sitcom “Newlyweds” Together

Yamillah Hurtado, Abby SternTue, August 25, 2026 at 2:38 PM UTC

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Tim Daly and Téa Leoni at the opening night of ‘The Night of the Iguana’ on Dec. 17, 2023Credit: Bruce Glikas/Getty -

Téa Leoni and Tim Daly are working together for their latest project, Newlyweds

“We wanted to spend our days together,” Leoni said during a panel at NBCUniversal’s Backlot Pass event in Los Angeles on Aug. 10

Newlyweds premieres on Oct. 23

Téa Leoni and Tim Daly are taking their marriage to the set of NBC’s new sitcom, Newlyweds.

The couple, who tied the knot in July 2025, first met while filming Madam Secretary, where they starred as former CIA analyst Elizabeth McCord and her husband Henry McCord. Now, more than a decade later, the actors play newlyweds in the forthcoming series.

During the Newlyweds panel at NBCUniversal’s Backlot Pass event in Los Angeles on Aug. 10, Leoni, 60, and Daly, 70, opened up about their new series and what it was like sharing the screen one year into their marriage.

“We were kind of sniffing around to play together again,” Leoni said. “We had a lot of fun on Madam Secretary. And I don’t know, the world got darker and we wanted to get lighter. We sort of thought we’ve done this, this particular medium, and loved it, and we wanted to spend our days together.”

Tim Daly and Téa Leoni at the Universal Studios Lot in Los Angeles on Aug. 10, 2026Credit: Todd Williamson/NBCUniversal via Getty

Daly added, “We spent six years pretending to be married on TV, and now we get to do it again, but we actually are married. It’s a miracle. It’s really fun, and it’s cool. And we still like each other.”

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In Newlyweds, the husband and wife duo play a couple “who find love after a whirlwind courtship,” per NBC. The sitcom finds Leoni as a “free-spirited woman” and Daly as a “buttoned-up professor.” Alongside the couple, Newlyweds stars Emma Meisel, Ignacio Diaz-Silverio and Bill O’Neil as series regulars. Jamie Lee Curtis, who serves as executive producer, will guest star in a recurring role.

Téa Leoni and Tim Daly in ‘Newlyweds’Credit: Nicole Weingart/NBC

When asked how their relationship plays a role in the humor of Newlyweds, Leoni shared that their understanding of each other’s sense of humor makes the show funnier. “I can read him,” she said. “...It’s really fun to act with someone that you know so well because we’re a little ahead with each other. It’s great. It’s really fun. We like it.”

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“We’ve been told that we have chemistry,” Daly said. “And I mean, we were told that on Madam Secretary, and hopefully we’ve exported that into this show. We haven’t lost it.”

He added, “That’s something that I think just comes along. You don’t have to do anything to have chemistry. It’s just either it happens, or it doesn’t.”

Newlyweds executive producer Gail Lerner shared that they wanted the series to center on love and made those behind it “laugh and have a good time.”

“I want everyone to watch this show and look at the spouse you have not really looked at in quite a while and be like, ‘Hello,’” Lerner said during the panel. “Or just anything you have love for — photography, ceramics, animals — just to be open to finding new love at any age.”

Curtis shared that she also considered her own marriage to Christopher Guest, whom she wed in 1984. “I met my husband and married him after seeing his picture in a magazine, and we never spent more than 72 hours together before we got married,” she said at the event.

“There’s something really delicious about watching people figure out life when they’re filled in a life with other people,” Curtis continued. “And that’s ultimately what we kind of wanted the show to be.”

Newlyweds premieres Oct. 23 at 8:30 p.m. ET.

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