Lucy Lawless, Nick Offerman

[Warning: This story contains major spoilers from Thursday's season premiere of Parks and Recreation. Read at your own risk!]

Parks and Recreation kicked off its sixth season with a whirlwind wedding. Yup, Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) got married — again!

The premiere picked up just moments after last year's finale, in which Diane (Lucy Lawless) went to Ron's office to break the news that she was pregnant. It takes Ron less than 20 seconds after finding out she's carrying his child before he asks her to be his wife. The proposal and impromptu wedding then happens within the first four minutes of the premiere, as the duo heads upstairs to get their marriage license and then tie the knot right there in the office.

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"I was surprised in so far as it's the opposite of how a TV show usually handles a wedding with one of its main characters, because that's a topic and subject matter from which much, much, much dairy product can be milked," Offerman tells "At the same time, I just laughed immediately at [executive producer] Mike Schur's ability to turn expectations on their ear every time."

But Ron's wedding was also very true to the character. (There's even a joke in the premiere about the officiant having overseen one of his past quickie weddings.) "We had spoken last year about different ideas about Ron's wedding," he says. "To see that the writers had boiled it down in a crucible of comedy to the fastest possible, most utilitarian wedding — 'Let's do this right now, let's go upstairs and get our card stamped' — with the absolutely most minimal amount of romance, which is the most romantic possibility to both Ron and Diane, I was over the moon. I laughed long and hard."


Last season, Lawless signed on for a short guest stint as a potential love interest for Ron Swanson. Her character was meant to be the exact opposite of his past failed relationships with his various Tammys (Offerman's real-life wife Megan Mullally and Patricia Clarkson).

"The relationship was conceived with the idea that we've seen how Ron fails in his relationship choices. What if we put him in a situation he might succeed?" Offerman says. "He'd be given the chance to actually have a real relationship instead of these manic trysts with his assorted Tammys. We knew there was the potential for it to go somewhere, but at the time, we didn't know where it would be going."

Now Ron has another wife, who masterfully made a Tammy reference during their wedding when she joked it was her middle name. As long as they don't name their first child Tammy, this couple will do just fine.

What did you think of Ron's impromptu wedding?

Parks and Recreation airs Thursdays at 8/7c on NBC.