The 41-year-old actor talked to ET about playing one-half of a divorced couple living under the same roof. Plus, watch an exclusive sneak peek from Tuesday's episode!
Oliver Hudson is rediscovering the romance.
On the charming ABC freshman comedy, Splitting Up Together, the 41-year-old actor plays Martin, one-half of a divorced couple living under the same roof as his ex-wife, Lena (Jenna Fischer). As the former couple attempt to cohabit and raise their young children while getting back into the dating game, they gain valuable insight into why their ex-spouse was unhappy in the marriage to begin with. For Hudson, who previously starred on the CBS sitcom Rules of Engagement, the connection to Splitting Up Together was immediate.
"I circled two [scripts during pilot season] that I really liked and this was one of them -- and it was because I connected on such a level to this," Hudson told ET's Keltie Knight on Monday. "I have three kids of my own. I go through this every day. I'm not divorced but you don't have to be divorced because it's about co-parenting and co-existing. We all have our ideas of what it's like to be a great parent and we've all been parented differently ourselves so we take from our parents. It's all about finding a balance and I like that."
Though Hudson and Fischer play exes on the show, which is executive produced by Ellen DeGeneres, it's their undeniable chemistry that's making America fall madly in love with them (and hoping that they reconcile). Hudson shared that the spark with Fischer was "instant" -- and something he's "never experienced before" in his career.
"It's really intangible," Hudson said. "[Jenna] already had the show and I had to go read with her. Before we even read, it was just instantaneous. It was just yapping and talking and then Emily [Kapnek] and Dean [Holland], our [executive producers], were like, 'Can we do the scene please?' I don't know what happened or why, 'cause we are very different people, but she is like my wife [Erinn Bartlett] a little bit in her personality, or in the way she goes about things. Apparently, I'm like Lee [Kirk], her husband."
Over the course of the young season, Martin appears to be discovering just how much he took Lena for granted throughout their relationship. When asked if the first season will culminate with the exes potentially reconciling and maybe getting back together -- for good -- Hudson wasn't so quick to agree.
"Not necessarily. A lot goes down. The cliffhanger for the second season is remarkable," Hudson teased. "I mean that's what it is. They're better separate, right? And they start to realize the things they took for granted and they begin to realize that they need each other, even in divorce and separation, to be the best parents they can be for their kids and only in this separation can they understand that maybe there's still a spark there."
On Tuesday's episode, titled "Nevertheless... She Went Clubbing," Martin's jealousy ramps up when Lena embraces the single dating life and in ET's exclusive sneak peek (watch the video above), you see why Martin has a difficult time adjusting to seeing his ex in a new light. In the clip, Lena gets ready for a night out in a navy form-fitting, cleavage-baring dress -- and her ex-husband's reaction more than cements that unpleasant new reality for him.
"We saw last week when I was in the rain, he's making a play to get her back: 'What are we doing here?'" Hudson said. "And this was a conversation I had with Emily, our creator, because it was too quick, but here's the thing, it was a reactionary situation. I'm seeing my woman, my girl, even though she's my wife of a million years with some other man and immediately that kicks in like, 'No, no, no, that's not going to happen. I screwed up and I cannot watch this. I'm going to make a play to get her back.' What we realize is that's all that was. It was a reactionary moment."
Splitting Up Together airs Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m ET/PT on ABC.
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