‘This Is Us’ Gains New Regular With Melanie Liburd Promotion

The This Is Us cast just got a little bigger. Melanie Liburd, who played Beth Pearson’s cousin Zoe, has been promoted to series regular, TVLine reported Thursday.

Liburd made her This Is Us debut in the season two finale “The Wedding.” Beth (Susan Kalechi-Watson) invited Zoe to Toby (Chris Sullivan) and Kate’s (Chrissy Metz) wedding, and was subsequently introduced to Randall’s (Sterling K. Brown) brother Kevin (Justin Hartley) who hit it off.

In a flash-forward scene at the end of the episode, we saw Zoe joining Kevin on his way to Vietnam, where he hopes to learn more about his father’s experiences during the Vietnam War.

While Liburd’s promotion makes it sound like the Kevin-Zoe romance will only grow stronger, This Is Us has a history of promoting an actor only to give them little screen time. Before season two started, Alexandra Breckenridge was promoted to regular, teasing a possible long-lasting reunion between Kevin and his estranged wife Sophie. Unfortunately, that was not to be. She left the show during episode 13, “That’ll Be The Day.”

This Is Us‘ third season will not pick up where those flash-forwards left off. Instead, the season starts on the Big Three’s 38th birthday, continuing the show’s tradition of starting on their big day.

“We are picking up with [Randall, Kate and Kevin] turning 38,” co-showrunner Isaac Aptaker told TVLine. “Our storylines are going to catch up to all of those [flash-forward scenes from the Season 2 finale] over the course of this year.”

Flashbacks will also explore Jack Pearson’s (Milo Ventimiglia) past in Vietnam while Kevin visits the country in the present. Hartley said the secrets Kevin uncovers will be a complete surprise to viewers.

“It’s not what anyone is expecting. No one is going to see it coming,” Hartley told Entertainment Weekly. “It’s ambitious stuff…. Here’s the cool thing about it: At the end of season 3 when you go back and watch the beginning of the series, you’re going to [be] like, ‘Wow, it all works,’ but you never would see any of this coming. I don’t know what those writers are eating, but it’s brain food. They’re brilliant.”

Jack’s backstory will be explored in an early episode in season three. The episode was written by This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman with Vietnam veteran and novelist Tim O’Brien (The Things They Carry). Michael Angarano was also cast as Jack’s brother Nicky, who died in Vietnam.

Outside of This Is Us, Liburd also appeared in The Grinder, Dark Matter and Game of Thrones.

This Is Us returns on Tuesday, Sept. 25 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.

Photo credit: NBC