Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen Confirm They Still Wake Up at 4:30 a.m. Everyday to Do This 1 Ritual Together (Exclusive) 

Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen just might be creatures of habit.

Now costarring as love interests in the second season of Danson’s hit Netflix series, A Man on the Inside, the superstar couple were more than happy to start going to work together every day on the Paramount lot for the production and even shared the same trailer.

But they have a daily ritual that will never change: playing Wordle, Connections and Spelling Bee. “Wake up at 4:30ish. Because we had to go get ready and be in a car, we probably got halfway through Spelling Bee. These are important facts,” says Danson, 77. Adds Steenburgen, 72: “And another important fact is that we’re bright enough to do these games together. So we each have half a really amazing brain.”

Last year, Danson revealed the cute ritual in an interview with PEOPLE. “To both of us, it’s like heaven on Earth,” he said at the time.

“Even if she’s working in a different time zone, we will wake up in time to be able to play our games and have coffee over the phone,” he added.

Married since October 1995, the two began dating after first costarring in the 1994 film Pontiac Moon. Danson had finalized his divorce from his second wife, Casey Coates, with whom he shares daughters Kate and Katrina; Steenburgen was raising her kids Charlie and Lilly after ending her marriage to actor Malcolm McDowell. 

They recently celebrated their 30th anniversary in Japan. “I had to work. But then the next day we got on a plane and flew to Japan, just the two of us,” says Danson. Adds Steenburgen: “We’d never been there, and it was No. 1 on our wish list for travel. We really loved it. The whole experience blew our minds.”

Since being featured on the cover of PEOPLE’s love issue in 2021, “we have two new grandchildren in our life,” says Danson. “So the things that delight us and we’re blessed by just keep growing. Steenburgen clarifies that they “now have five grandchildren, and we’re pretty obsessed with them.” Working together is frosting on the cake. “And we still have fun together,” Danson adds. “Life is good.”

Indeed the couple are more grateful than ever to have found each other. “I would never have imagined that I would be madly in love and have fun and laugh in my late 70s,” allows the actor. Adds Steenburgen: “For two people who in some ways are quite different, we are weirdly compatible.”

A Man on the Inside season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.