It could be argued that Kevin is the saddest of the Pearson siblings on This Is Us. Hear me out. Sure, on the surface Kevin's problems pale in comparison to what Kate and Randall are going through—it's hard to feel too bad for a privileged, wealthy, conventionally handsome white dude who's unfulfilled by his TV career, especially next to Randall's reunion with his dying biological father, or the deep, painful psychology of Kate's weight-loss journey.
But that moment at the pool early in season one, when young Kevin almost drowned because his parents were too preoccupied to notice, was not included in the show for nothing. As Justin Hartley, who plays Kevin on the NBC hit show, pointed out to ELLE.com when we sat down with him last week, the root of Kevin's narcissism is that he feels ignored.
Consider last week's episode, which had the entire Pearson clan showing up to support Kevin at a special reunion taping of his terrible sitcom The Manny...only to bail, one by one, until only Miguel and Randall's daughters remained to actually watch the show. "Typical, right?" Hartley says with a shrug, indignant on his character's behalf, while also acknowledging that Kevin hasn't historically been the easiest character to warm to. Find out more about why this will be Kevin's loneliest season yet, what else we need to discover about Jack's death, and how Hartley's fans respond to the feelsiest show on TV.
Though it took a while for Kevin to win over most viewers, Hartley was on board with him from the start.
“I liked him, because I got him. I mean, the first moment that you meet him you’re like, Ugh, this douchebag. He's sitting on a boat with these two women, he's at [his own] birthday party, he doesn’t know anybody but he's got tons of money, and it's like...ew. This guy is probably horrible to be around. But then you see him with his sister, and it’s their birthday, and you’re like, Oh, gosh, okay. That’s just a show.
Kevin really wants to be better, but just doesn't know how, and maybe if his dad hadn't died, he could have taught him a little bit more. It’s a really sad story of being alone, and kind of having to figure things out on your own when everyone assumes, 'Oh, Kevin will be fine.' I think he grew up sort of starved for attention, and so in a way this grown man has that little boy quality.”
Maintaining the intense secrecy about Jack’s death is harder than you might think. But there might be a clue you missed...
”Right now, we're shooting episode eight, so we have all of these secrets that we're keeping. With everything that we've shot so far, I'm constantly trying to remember what I can and can’t talk about. It's like Tetris—if you give one thing away, all of a sudden the whole thing starts to crumble. You have to be really careful.
“But it's not like they're holding on to the story of how Jack died just so they can hold on to it. There are these pieces of the puzzle that we need to tell, and [the fire] was one piece, and then there'll be another, and another, and another. You saw Kevin in a cast—what is that?”
Kevin’s decision to abandon his play so he could comfort Randall mid-panic attack is one of the show’s most beloved and often-referenced scenes. But if you felt bad for Sloane, who got royally screwed over in that moment, you're not alone.
“Kevin poured everything into this play, but Stay and do the play, or be there for your brother, that’s really not a choice. There is no play, there’s no fucking play for him in that moment. We're gonna go be with the people that carry us through life and that we share moments with, and have a relationship with. Your brother, someone who loves you—you love him back, develop a bond. There's no play tonight.
“I loved that hard decision, but I felt bad for Sloane! The worst thing that could have possibly happened is that they hired Kevin to do her play. He ended up producing it, taking it away from her, not showing up opening night, and then re-doing it and getting a part on a Ron Howard movie, and where's Sloane? She’s probably not gonna write any more roles for Kevin.”
Despite his closeness with Kate, Kevin has a blind spot when it comes to his sister’s needs.
“I just think in Kevin’s head, Kate’s different. He’s not dumb but, for example, during his fight with Toby when he says, ‘Don’t tell me how to take care of my sister. I’ve been doing it for a long time,’ and Toby goes, ‘And how’s that working out?’ Kevin’s like, What are you even talking about? She’s great! I think he sees himself as the one that might be more of a burden. There’s also that dynamic of, I need my sister because I know that I'm good at that, and when you're taking that away from me, I don't have anything else. He doesn’t have any friends, Sophie’s in New York, so it’s a bit of a lonely story for Kevin this season.”
Kevin's conflicted feelings towards the entertainment industry ring very true to Hartley.
“It’s aggravating to me when you meet people that are just...you know, there's a difference between wanting to be an actor or a writer or something creative, and just wanting to be seen. It’s a lot to be around sometimes, and I really like that Kevin kind of recognizes that in himself. He does the song and dance, and then he bitches about the way that people do the song and dance. He actually doesn’t like being around these people that are so surface, but yet he’s the one that everyone thinks is so surface.”
Kevin’s more douchey tendencies—like showing off by repeatedly taking family members to over-the-top restaurants—are driven by deep insecurity.
“When he took Randall [to that restaurant near Times Square], he's not doing it because he likes it. He's doing it because he needs his brother to understand how important he is, and to be impressed with him. He needs that validation, because it all comes from insecurity, and he needs people to be like, Holy cow, man, everybody really likes you, I better start paying more attention because you must be a really big deal. He wants Randall to take him seriously.”
Though Hartley has a lot more people approaching him in the street now, the experience isn't new for him.
“I'm used to it to some degree, because [in the past] I tended to play characters that are polarizing in some way—they’re mean or odd or evil—and that was with daytime soap fans and sci-fi fans. But This Is Us transcends. It’s across all genres and all ages and all sexes, and it touches people in such a personal way. They’re compelled to come up and start talking to me about their favorite moments: the painting scene, people seem to really like, where Kevin’s talking about death with the children, and also the moment where Kevin went to Randall and held him. And I don’t know how many people have come up to me and said, ‘I’m a twin’ or ‘I’m a triplet’ and that the show really touches them in that way."
Despite Kevin's huge career windfall with the Ron Howard movie, things aren't going as well for him as they seem to be in season two.
”Kevin starts to realize that the fact that everything just lands in his lap, and sort of falls his way no matter what he does, is actually a bit frustrating. Because he got all the breaks, he’s been given all the opportunity, and why can’t he follow through? Why can't he knuckle down? Why does he keep fucking everything up? That's a big part of his conflict this season.”
This interview has been condensed and edited.
