Why Justin Hartley is the cast member to target if you want 'This Is Us' spoilers

Mandi Bierly

The beauty of the writing on NBC’s This Is Us is that it can provide fans answers while creating even more questions. Like after last week’s Season 2 premiere — which in co-star Justin Hartley’s mind answered the question of whether the series would suffer a sophomore slump (no!) — we learned that Jack died on the night that the Pearson family home burned down and that Kate was the one who had to tell Kevin about their father’s death. But what was the cause of the fire? Why weren’t Jack’s wallet and watch scorched in the small bag of his personal possessions Rebecca was presumably bringing home from the hospital? (Did he have a heart attack after saving someone, or something, from the flames?) Why was teen Kevin’s leg broken?

The last week has been filled with fans sharing theories and asking for spoilers, and so far, Hartley’s held strong. But while chatting with us at BUILD Series NYC, he admitted he has slipped up in the past. “I’ve had to, a couple times, be like, ‘So listen. I’m sorry. What’s your name again? OK, great. We just met, but I shouldn’t have told you that. I apologize. I don’t want to lose my job. Can we have a little thing here where you’re not gonna tell anybody? You know, but your friends don’t know.’ So I’ve had to make a couple of deals with people,” he said. Maybe he shouldn’t have shared that bit of info. either? “Now I’m a target,” he says. “Like, what am I doing? I’m up here… oh, my God.”

The actor also teased tonight’s episode, in which the Pearson clan travels to L.A. to watch Kevin return to “the scene of the crime” — the set of The Manny — to film a guest spot. It doesn’t exactly go according to plan. Trust us, there will be GIFs.

Watch the full interview below to also hear him look ahead to the Oct. 10 episode, which finds Kate (Chrissy Metz) visiting Kevin on the set of that Ron Howard film, which means we should finally get to see guest star Sylvester Stallone as Kevin’s castmate in that flick.

This Is Us airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.
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