‘This Is Us’ Child Actors Are Earning Huge Bucks per Episode

The child actors who play Young Kate and Kevin Pearson are raking in the big bucks every episode of NBC’s hit series This Is Us.

The Blast reports that Mackenzie Hancsicsak (Young Kate) and Parker Bates (Young Kevin) were making $8,210 per episode in season 1 — and are now making even more.

Both characters were bumped up to season 2 regulars, adding a nice raise to their paychecks — $12,500 per episode.

While Hancsicsak and Bates have identical contracts (down to the same requirements for their dressing rooms: TV/DVD player, sofa, bathroom, microwave), the actor who plays Young Randall, Lonnie Chavis, was not promoted to a series regular for season 2. The reasoning behind that move could be because he’s already a series regular on Showtime’s White Famous.

More: This Is Us Reveals New Clue About Jack’s Death

This Is Us continues to break records in its sophomore season; the second episode of season 2, “A Manny-Splendored Thing” nabbed 10.9 million viewers and 3.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic, the best numbers in its 9:00 p.m. time slot. And while those metrics may be down from the season 2 premiere, the episode still broke every This Is Us record for an episode that wasn’t a premiere or finale.

Fans continued to praise the family drama; social media exploded after the bombshell pregnancy news was revealed last week. When fans learned that Kate was six weeks along in an unexpected pregnancy, emotions ranged from shocked to delighted to straight-up freaking out. Metz was a little more collected about the shocking plot twist and told Entertainment Tonight that she’s excited the show is showing a plus-size pregnancy.

“I love that it’s not like, ‘Oh, here’s a plus-size girl just sitting in the corner, wishing her life would start,’ ” Metz explained. “She’s actually living her life, and all of these really exciting things are happening, and it’s really nice. Because I don’t think it’s been portrayed — well, really anywhere. Especially network television. So I’m excited about it.”

She agrees with fans that things are moving fast for Kate and Toby, who just got engaged.

“It definitely wasn’t planned, but I think they ultimately both were okay and would be excited about what could happen, which is having a baby,” she said.

Despite that, she’s eager to see how Toby will be as a father — “perfect,” she speculated — and how Kate will handle this new chapter of her life.

“Listen, Kate and Toby have gone through a lot together, but they’re stronger than they have been perceived in a lot of ways,” Metz said. “But things are going to definitely change in their relationship, and they’re going to come up against some issues that are going to challenge the relationship. Truly, truly challenge the relationship.”