‘Veep’ Star Timothy Simons Talks Jonah’s New Love Interest: ‘It’s Sort Of Perfect’

HBO’s “Veep” makes it clear that no one really likes Jonah, but that doesn’t mean he can’t have a love interest. Season 6 of the political satire introduced Shawnee Tanz, a powerful businessman’s daughter, as Jonah’s new girlfriend. She is obviously using him for his political power, but actor Timothy Simons revealed to International Business Times that his character doesn’t really care why Shawnee is interested.

Shawnee (Molly Holland) made it pretty clear in “Veep” Season 6, episode 5 that she is using her pull with Jonah to sway his votes in favor of her family’s business. Kent (Gary Cole) and Ben (Kevin Dunn) can see it right away, and Jonah isn’t blind to it.

“I don’t think that he cares,” Simons told IBT at the Peabody Awards in New York Saturday night. “Well, I do think in his heart that he enjoys that relationship, and he is in love and he’s a very doting partner. But I think it fits in with all his previous relationships, like regardless of romance.”

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Simons noted that Jonah, as annoying as he is, isn’t entirely stupid. “He attaches himself to the most powerful, most influential person he can find,” the actor explained. “The president, or like when Kent and Ben appeared in Season 2. Kent had all the power, so he attached himself to Kent. And then when Kent fell out of favor, he attached himself to Ben.”

That means Shawnee and Jonah are pretty much a match made in “Veep” heaven. “That’s just what he does, so it’s sort of perfect,” Simons noted. “That’s where he’s happiest, finding the strongest person and just latching onto them, and she’s a very strong, very powerful D.C. go-getter, so it works out perfectly. Also, they get to have sex, which he never really gets to do.”

It isn’t clear if Shawnee will actually help Jonah’s career, but it seems like she’s helping his personal life. Not only is Jonah finally in a relationship, but he had a five-minute truce with Richard (Sam Richardson) after getting together with the businesswoman. Simons hopes that means a truce for Jonah and Richard is on the way.

“Selfishly, I want for nothing more than to play scenes with Sam Richardson,” the 38-year-old said. “I love the story of Richard being brought on into Selina’s team, but I miss Sam. I miss being in scenes with Sam, and so selfishly I want it too. I feel like the stories absolutely work, but I just miss Sam.”

That, however, is in the hands of the “Veep” writers, all of whom were praised by Simons. When asked about where he hopes Jonah’s story will go, the actor revealed that he trusts the scribes to come up with something better than he could ever imagine.

“Every time I’ve every tried to guess a good place for it to go, I’ve always been wrong, and also something better has happened. So whenever I think about it, I just kind of — we have amazing writers and I just kind of toss it up to them. They won’t let it go wrong.”

Simons has good reason to trust the team. Now in its sixth season, “Veep” has scored tons of love from critics and awards shows. In addition to winning Emmys and Screen Actors Guild Awards, the show can now add the prestigious Peabody Award to its list of accolades. Simons accepted the award with star Julia Louis-Dreyfus at the Peabodys ceremony Saturday night. Their expletive-filled acceptance speech will air Friday, June 2 on PBS and Fusion at 9 p.m. EDT.

“Veep” airs Sundays at 10:30 p.m. EDT on HBO.