Jason Ritter Reveals Which of His Roles Would Be His Dad's Favorite

After all, it runs in the family.

Jason Ritter may have followed in his father John Ritter's footsteps when he became an actor, but he's since made quite a name for himself—appearing in shows like Parenthood, The Class and even Gravity Falls. But which of his many roles would be the late Three's Company icon's personal favorite?

"I have to say, he was generally a very supportive and proud dad, he would have been proud of everything," Jason shared exclusively with E! News. "But I do think there was an element in the stuff that I was doing on Kevin (Probably) Saves the World where I felt like this is fully me there. I'm not trying to hide away some of the parts that I think might remind people of my dad."

He continued, "There was a lot of that performance that felt like I was almost doing an homage to him or something. I tried to make my own way, do my own thing and not be compared, but he was always so fun."

And Jason tries to bring the 8 Simple Rules star's philosophy to his own work. As he put it, "His goal was to make people laugh as hard as possible and that's how I felt on the set of that show. What can I possibly do to make people laugh in this moment?"

And Jason—who will soon join wife Melanie Lynskey in Yellowjackets season two—is about to showcase a very different side of himself in his twisted new episode of Accused on Fox. In fact, it's the constant back-and-forth of playing along with the show that makes his installment "Jack's Story" such a wild ride.

"I love when the audience is able to participate in that way, where you're going, 'Alright, I see what's happening now. Now I'm starting here. And I'm filling in the blanks as well as I can until I get more information,'" Jason noted. "It's just fun. You're not just sitting there like a zombie, your brain is activated as you're trying to put the pieces together."

And the Raising Dion actor tried to do his part—even if the self-contained nature of the series proved quite a shift for him.

"Knowing Jack's whole story from the beginning, the main challenge of this was not giving too much away," Jason shared. "I know the whole story, but part of the point of the show is maybe you think something else is happening and so there's a lot I had to keep close to the vest."

But, of course, that's easier said than done.

"That's difficult for me because I'm a heart on your sleeve, open book kind of person," he noted. "So, trying to keep secrets was a challenge. I want every character that I play to feel like a real person and I always start from myself and then I personally think that every one of us is a couple of steps away from being the other person."

Jason also teased a familiar face to the Accused audience who had a huge role in making "Jack's Story"—only this time, from behind the camera.

"Michael Chiklis, who [fans] will recognize from many different things including episode one of Accused, directed this episode," he shared. "He loved the show so much and he loved what it was saying that he was like, 'Can I come back and direct?' We were the lucky cast to get him."

Jason concluded, "It's just such a wonderful show. The writing is so strong, the directing is so strong. This storytelling feels important and complicated and difficult and I'm just excited to see the conversations that it starts."

See Jason Ritter's side of the story in Accused, airing Tuesday, March 21 at 9 p.m. EST on Fox.

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