Jennifer Nettles has found a family in her The Righteous Gemstones castmates — but she wasn’t expecting her 12-year-old son to be moved to tears when meeting costar John Goodman.
“We would all bring our families there. I brought my son, Magnus, to this last season when we were shooting,” Nettles, 50, exclusively told Us Weekly at The Righteous Gemstones Los Angeles premiere on Wednesday, March 5, noting that her son knows Goodman, 72, because of his work on Monsters Inc.
She recalled explaining Goodman’s connection to the Pixar movie, saying, “I was like, ‘OK, so you know that John plays mommy’s husband in this show, but do you know who he also is?’ And he was like, ‘Who?’ And I was like, ‘Sully.’”
Nettles noted that what followed was an emotional exchange between her son and the iconic actor. (Nettles shares Magnus with husband Justin Miller, whom she married in 2011.)
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“John spoke and Magnus just went and grabbed him and started crying. He couldn’t believe it,” she shared. “So those kinds of sweet connective moments are ones that I will always cherish. John was so, so kind. John was moved too genuinely by it.”
Goodman has been acting for decades, having voiced the big blue monster Sully in 2001’s Monsters, Inc. He has since voiced the character in video games, the 2013 sequel Monsters University and on the TV series Monsters at Work from 2021 to 2024.
Goodman’s acting path crossed Nettles when they were cast on The Righteous Gemstones, which premiered in 2019. Goodman plays Dr. Eli Gemstone on the Max series, while Nettles plays his late wife, Aimee-Leigh Gemstone.
“Aimee-Leigh shows up in the flashbacks,” Nettles exclusively told Us of her role on the show, which begins its final season Sunday, March 9. “So most of my interaction is with young Jesse.”
She recalled having a “lot of time” with Goodman as well throughout the series, calling him “really sweet.”
Now that the show is coming to an end, Nettles said it is “so sad,” but she is grateful for the memories.
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“Not only are these characters so beloved, but when you work together, and especially with Gemstones and Roughhouse and [creator] Danny [McBride], everything, it does become like a family,” the Sugarland singer gushed. “You get to know each other and you get to know each other’s families and people have babies and it’s really special. … I will miss the people the most.”
As Nettles prepares to say goodbye to her Gemstones family, she told Us she has been keeping busy with new music.
“I have some fun stuff coming up. I mean also this is where television and music overlap. I have a project called The Bondsman that’s going to be coming out in April on Amazon Prime with Kevin Bacon and music is a part of that show,” she revealed. “He and I wrote some songs that appear in the show and we’ve gone and recorded an EP of those songs as well.”
The country singer teased, “I’ve been writing a musical for years that I’m currently actually in a workshop right now [for] … [We will be doing] off Broadway development production in the fall.”
The Righteous Gemstones’ final season premieres on Max Sunday, March 9.
With reporting by Mariel Turner
