Tim Allen just hinted at a major milestone headed Matt and Eve’s way on season 3 of Shifting Gears after Jenna Elfman‘s return.
“My question is — and we haven’t talked about it yet because we’ll start in late July to do our new season — is Jenna going to move in with me or am I going to move in with her [on the show]? I don’t know,” Allen, 72, exclusively told Us Weekly.
The actor hinted he wasn’t in a rush to see the next chapter in Matt and Eve’s story, adding, “I’d like to stretch it out where we’re just dating a little bit.”
Looking ahead, Allen showed his support for what is still to come.
“I said I don’t foresee it coming, but [showrunner] Michelle [Nader] and her team surprised me again,” he added. “I’m uncomfortable with it — because I’m a comedian — so I don’t know where this goes. It doesn’t matter, it’s working. It makes a dynamic sitcom move a little bit wider, definitely.”
Shifting Gears introduced fans to Matt and Eve’s romance in season 1. The pair dated throughout the second season before calling it quits due to long distance. Matt and Eve — who have an age gap — found their way back to each other before season 2 concluded.
“The age difference is not much different than my wife and I,” Allen, who has been married to wife Jane Hajduk since 2006, shared with Us.
Allen noted that his response to the age gap varies, adding, “It depends on the pictures. It gets creepy for me at a certain age [and] we’re right at that border. If Jenna didn’t look so damn nice, then our age gap is not that much. I just let my hair go natural and she just looks — especially on camera — quite young.” (Elfman is 54.)
For Allen, the difference came from watching Matt and Eve’s scenes.
“They say when you’re lit better and I go, ‘When I’m lit better, I look probably 68,’” he quipped. “I just don’t want to be creepy about it — and that’s kind of the borderline image these days.”
Allen continued: “It hasn’t really come out — except when they joke about, ‘Well, a guy your age.’ When they have her making jokes about it, it’s not my preference. But I said, ‘It’s admitting what is there.’ There’s times — and I’ll give it to them — that they lit right and in the right clothing so it doesn’t look creepy.”
Allen’s return to set will come after he wraps up promoting his reprisal as the voice of Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story 5.
“It’s an amazing part of my life,” Allen said about the Pixar role, which he originated three decades prior. “Buzz has become such a part of me, and vice versa.”
Allen teased what fans can expect from the next chapter, which premieres in theaters on June 19: “When we did Toy Story 4, I said, ‘We need a little more Buzz in this.’ I was kidding, so it was very startling when I saw the storyboards. I said, ‘OK, you took that seriously.’”
He concluded, “It was very challenging to be that many Buzzes [in a toy cargo container], and then it got very confusing [as to] who’s talking to who, and I’m not sure exactly how they smoothed it out, but it was very funny to be part of that. … Essentially, it’s a story about a wonderful friendship. Kids recognize it, and adults recognize it, and they’ve added a whole color palette with the other toys, so it’s like a little community. I think [if it were with] stick figures, it would still be very popular.”
Shifting Gears is currently streaming on Hulu. Toy Story 5 premieres in theaters on June 19.
