Adam Scott appeared on Will Arnett’s podcast Smartless this week. And among everything discussed in the 54-minute episode, one particular moment has since gone super viral across social media.
Will, who was joined by cohosts Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes, asked Adam if he’d “ever had an emotional affair with a coworker,” to which Adam laughed and said, “Oh god.” And if you aren’t caught up with all the lore, you might not realize why people think it’s such a big deal.
But before we dive into it, it’s important to note that the question came across as super lighthearted and lots of people thought it was an innocent reference to Adam’s character in Severance, who has an affair with his coworker.
Now, while you probably know Will from playing Gob Bluth on Arrested Development, if you’re a fan of Parks and Recreation, you might have spotted him in an early episode of the show. That’s because Will used to be married to the one and only Amy Poehler — who sits right at the center of all this.
In case you need a recap, Will and Amy began dating in 2000, right before Amy started on Saturday Night Live in 2001. They got married three years later, and share two kids together: Archie, 16, and Abel, 14.
After leaving SNL, Amy began starring as Leslie Knope in the NBC hit Parks and Recreation. The show premiered in 2009, a year after Amy and Will’s first kid was born. In the second season, Will guest-starred in an episode, playing an MRI technician with whom Leslie goes on a terrible blind date. And while the episode was super funny, fans of the show will know that Leslie’s love life didn’t start getting interesting until the very end of the second season, airing in 2010. Enter Ben Wyatt.
Although we now know and love him as Mark S., Adam Scott’s breakout role was on Parks and Rec as Ben — Leslie’s love interest. The two had instant chemistry onscreen, and most fans will tell you that the show went from good to great after Ben and Chris (Rob Lowe’s character) showed up, partially because of Leslie and Ben’s incredible dynamic.
September 2012: Parks and Rec’s fifth season began airing, and Will and Amy announced their separation. Will then filed for divorce in 2014 — it was finalized in 2016 — and it sounds like it was rough for both of them. In a 2022 interview with The Guardian, Will described it as “almost excruciating… Just brutal, brutal, brutal. I was driving to the set one day and I pulled over to the side of the road and cried for an hour.”
In Amy’s 2014 memoir, she revealed that she didn’t want to discuss their breakup because it was “too sad and too personal” to share. She commented on how proud she was of Will’s co-parenting skills and said that she didn’t consider their almost 10 years of marriage a failure. “That being said,” she wrote, “getting a divorce really sucks.”
At the time, there were rumors swirling on both sides — the most prominent of which being that Will had an affair with his Up All Night costar, Christina Applegate, which neither Will nor Christina have ever publicly addressed. There were also rumors of Amy and Adam’s onscreen chemistry translating offscreen, given the timing of the initial split in 2012 coinciding with Adam’s start on Parks and Rec. However, the rumors were pretty stagnant — until Adam hopped on Will’s podcast and everybody lost their minds.
On X, one user posted the clip and poignantly called it “an unprovoked question posed to adam scott by will arnett,” and another responded with, “he’s wanted to ask that for a longggg time.”
“will arnett really said ‘by chance did you ruin my happy marriage?’” another user chimed in. “im sorry helly r you’ll never be adam scott’s n1 work place relationship,” said one person, posting an edit of Leslie in Parks.
It’s also important to note that Will’s question to Adam, while possibly harmless, might dispel another rumor that was circulating about why Will and Amy’s marriage fell apart: enter Amy’s Weekend Update cohost, Seth Meyers.
Referred to by many as “situationship final boss,” Seth and Amy auditioned for SNL on the very same day, and the two have been tight ever since. Suuuuper tight, as after they first met, Seth “completely fell for her.” His words!
Seth and Amy were co-anchors on SNL‘s Weekend Update for two years together, and they, too, had great chemistry. So much so that viewers of SNL’s 50th anniversary were pointing out Seth’s face while watching Amy perform — almost two decades after they stopped hosting together. While it was all speculation, there was a prominent rumor that Will and Amy broke up because Amy and a “famous comedian” were planning on running away together, but the comedian in question chickened out. For a long time, people assumed that it was Seth, but now fans have turned back to Adam.
“More like parks and homewreck” one user wrote. “somebody lock seth meyers, will arnett and adam scott in a room together” another added, and I can’t advocate for that enough.
However, we all know that rumors are rumors, and nothing is actually confirmed. I, for one, am happy that Will and Adam seem to be buddies now and that nothing has come between Seth and Amy. And we all know that Amy’s no. 1 work wife will always be Tina Fey, so none of it really matters in the end.
That’s the lore! I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. Leave your theories in the comments below.