Only Murders in the Building Creator Knew Meryl Streep Was the 'Perfect Person' to Play Martin Short's Love Interest

It might have been a coincidence to Martin Short that Meryl Streep joined Only Murders in the Building as his character's love interest, but for the show's creator, that was always the plan.

John Hoffman, who created the hit murder comedy series with Steve Martin, revealed that he long had his sights set on having Streep, 75, play Loretta Durkin – the Broadway star that Oliver Putnam (Martin) struck up a romance with in season 3.

Hoffman told The Hollywood Reporter that he knew Oliver was going to have a "very tenuous and twisty romance" with the leading lady of his musical, and Streep was his dream casting for the role – an actress who would leave Oliver "thunderstruck by both the talent and the woman standing before him."

"I said to [executive producers] Dan [Fogelman] and Jess [Rosenthal], 'Well, the perfect person to play this part — you know who that is?' They’re like, 'Who?' And I was like, 'Well, Meryl Streep,'" Hoffman recalled. "And they were like, 'Good luck with that, John.'"

Hoffman's dream, somehow, came to fruition, when Martin, 78, and Short, 74, reached out to him and said that the Mamma Mia! star wanted to work with them.

"And a week later, they called and said, 'Hey, Meryl just said she’s in if you think we have something for her to do. Do we have anything good?' And I was like, 'Oh, f---.'"

Hoffman was "nervous" when he met Streep over Zoom to talk about the role, and the conversation ended with him thinking, "My head is going to explode."

After explaining his vision for the opening scene of her character – a flashback of her as a 10-year-old visiting New York City with her mom to see No Strings on Broadway – Streep revealed that she'd seen that exact show with her own mother before singing a song from the show.

"I said, 'OK, I don’t know what the hell is happening right now, but Meryl, you have to stop because my head is going to explode. Those lyrics you just sang are on page one of the script I’m going to send you after we hang up,'" he recalled. "And she said, ‘What?!’"

Short previously told PEOPLE that it was "coincidental" that Streep joined the series as his love interest – given the real-life romance rumors that were flying about the stars following the news of Streep's separation from Don Gummer, which PEOPLE confirmed in October.

"They already planned that I would have a theatrical experience and there would be a love interest. So that was coincidental, but she just wanted to be on the show. She didn't know about [the love story]," he said.

Calling the speculation about their relationship "interesting," he said he didn't feel weird about being asked about it – after all, he'd previously denied any romance between them, insisting they are "just very close friends" on Bill Maher's podcast in January.

"She's fabulous," he added of the actress, who will reprise her role as Loretta Durkin on the upcoming fourth season of Only Murders. "There's no one who doesn't adore her."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

Season 4 of Only Murders in the Building premieres August 27 on Hulu.