WandaVision’s David Schwimmer Lookalike Explained

Marvel Studios’ new show WandaVision is a love letter to classic TV sitcoms – so much so that it even features a mustachioed David Schwimmer lookalike. The first two episodes of WandaVision released on Disney+ at the same time, setting up a Pleasantville-esque monochrome world where Scarlet Witch and an apparently resurrected Vision engage in a series of low-stakes comedy hijinks. But as Wanda and Vision comically try to stop their friends and neighbors from figuring out their superhuman secrets, cracks in their fake reality are already starting to show.

Clues littered throughout the first two episodes of WandaVision suggest that Scarlet Witch has used her reality-altering powers to create a fantasy world where Vision is still alive (and has an indestructible head) and they’re safe in the idyllic suburb of Westview. There’s plenty of weird stuff going on, but for some viewers the most distracting part of Westview is the fact that one resident looks like actor David Schwimmer, who played Ross Gellar in Friends.

Phil Jones, a (former) coworker of Vision’s at Computational Services Inc., is first seen morosely leaving the office after being fired for not throwing a satisfactory dinner party. He returns in episode 2 when Vision attends a local neighborhood watch meeting, and when the town puts on a talent show. Jones is actually played by actor David Lengel, who looks uncannily like a young David Schwimmer sporting a very large mustache. It wasn’t long before social media was filled with WandaVision viewers either jokingly or genuinely wondering if the character on screen was played by Schwimmer.

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Lengel may not actually be one of the stars of Friends, but he’s an experienced sitcom actor with previous guest appearances in Superstore, Grace and Frankie, and Dr. Ken, as well as a recurring role in the Nickelodeon series Henry Danger. Though Lengel appeared in some earlier roles without his distinctive facial hair, it has now become something of a statement piece. Speaking on commercial director Jordan Brady’s podcast, Lengel explained that his mustache went from being a part of his look that he was willing to compromise, to something that has actually helped him secure regular acting work:

“I always say I’m willing to shave. But I don’t want to, because it is a big part of my branding at this point. I haven’t shaved since 2014… I went all-in, I’m real committed now. And it has paid dividends.”

Though WandaVision underwent a shift to a more color-filled reality at the end of its second episode, what we’ve seen so far implies that the people of Westview are trapped in Wanda’s world and being forced to act out their roles as characters in her show. Perhaps the resemblance between Lengel and Schwimmer was just a casting coincidence, but Jones will certainly look right at home once WandaVision‘s aesthetic moves forward into the ’90s era of sitcoms.