Justin Hartley‘s hit series Tracker is the perfect platform to reunite him with his This Is Us costars but it turns out not everyone has received an invite — yet.
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly about the first live episode of their “That Was Us” podcast, Sterling K. Brown, Mandy Moore and Chris Sullivan teased the chance they would share the screen with Hartley soon.
“Justin is always trying to get me to go to Vancouver,” Brown, 49, who is booked and busy with shows such as Washington Black and the critically acclaimed Paradise, told Us. “I’ll go in the summer — not during the winter [months].”
Moore, 41, noted that she would “do anything” for Hartley — but she’s still waiting to be offered a role. Sullivan, 45, meanwhile, joked that he had “been asked” but “said no” before clarifying that he would be interested in anything Hartley had to offer.
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“You can’t get me off the set. I’m not even working on the show,” he quipped. “There I am lurking at craft services.”
This Is Us, which ran from 2016 to 2022, focused on siblings Kevin (Hartley), Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Randall (Brown) in addition to their parents, Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca Pearson (Moore). Before This Is Us came to an end, Hartley was already making moves — with the help of producer Ken Olin — with his CBS series Tracker.
Hartley not only stars on Tracker but is an executive producer. This has allowed him to reunite with several This Is Us costars, including Jon Huertas and Jennifer Morrison.
“[We discuss cameos] all the time. If I’m going to go with those kind of big names, I got to make sure I have a story,” executive producer Elwood Reid told Us earlier this month. “The show works because we’re with Colter so much and he’s just such an interesting actor that he’s able to carry that big narrative load.”
Reid confirmed ongoing discussions.
“We’ve definitely talked about Sterling K. Brown, we’ve talked about Mandy Moore and we have talked about Milo Ventimiglia,” he shared. “But until it’s really, really right — and matching the windows up in these people’s calendars is impossible.”
Reid concluded: “If I have the right story line, I will do it. But I’m always opposed to just do a cameo. We have to get a good emotional story out of it or a fun story line.”
Brown, Moore and Sullivan, for their part, are focused on their upcoming That Was Us Live event, which is taking place on January 17. The special live show will be at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, California, with the promise of Brown, Moore and Sullivan’s usual episode recap before incorporating live music.
“This could open the floodgates for us doing more of these — maybe in other cities across the country,” Moore shared. “We are waiting to see what the response is.”
Moore noted that fans can expect several surprises. “We’re not focusing on one particular episode with this recording. We’re talking about music generally throughout the show and how it’s woven into the fabric of what the show is,” she teased. “Then once we finish talking about music, we have a couple of special guests who are going to help us talk about it. We’re [also] going to have some special performances for just the audience that comes and sees the show. It won’t be something that’s a part of a future episode that airs.”
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According to the trio, all bets are off when it comes to That Was Us Live. “I’ve actually started taking voice lessons in anticipation of this live,” Brown teased after Moore praised his skills, “He likes to play it off like he can’t sing. He is an incredible singer.”
Brown is excited to celebrate This Is Us with viewers.
“Now with a few years removed from it, I experience the show purely as a fan. And I find myself incredibly moved by the show. It’s not my performance, it’s their performances. But I understand in a new way the resonance that it had when it was out in the world at that time,” he reflected. “It’s a show that connects people in this gorgeous way.”
Brown continued: “When I watch this show, it is abundantly clear to me that I’m watching people who love each other. There’s incredible structure, there’s incredible writing and storytelling — but the relationships that you see play out on camera are based on relationships that people have in real life that are founded in love. It feels so clear to me watching it and I experienced it on the other side doing it.”
After releasing more than 400 episodes of their podcast, the costars aren’t ruling out creative ways to keep working together on the venture.
“We have been talking about [what to do next] as we come closer to the end of our episodes — and how we might be able to keep this connection going. We are brainstorming that and trying to figure out [it is possible to rewatch episodes of other shows]. So stay tuned,” Sullivan hinted while Brown joked, “We’re going to watch the podcast and then do a podcast about the podcast. It will be very inside baseball.”
Tickets are available now for This Was Us Live on Saturday, January 17, at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, California.
