The ‘This Is Us’ Star Reportedly Left out From Getting $2 Million Bonus

The stars of This Is Us reportedly received $2 million bonuses, ahead of Season 6, but one actor is said to have been left out. According to Deadline, Milo Ventimiglia (Jack Pearson), Mandy Moore (Rebecca Pearson), Sterling K. Brown (Randall Pearson), Chrissy Metz (Kate Pearson), Justin Hartley (Kevin Pearson), Susan Kelechi Watson (Beth Pearson) and Chris Sullivan (Toby Damon) all received big payouts, following recent pay raise negotiations. However, Jon Huertas, who plays Miguel Rivas, received a $1 million bonus. 

Notably, the 52-year-old actor was featured in a recurring role during season 1, later becoming a series regular in season 2. It’s reported that the rest of the cast, as well as This Is Us, fought for Huertasto get a $2 million bonus as well, but they were not successful in their discussions with the network. Deadline also reported that some of the cast members offered to pool their bonus money together with Huertas, so that they all would walk away with the same amount of money, but he respectfully declined.

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Among the big new plans for This Is Us Season 6 is Metz’s involvement as a co-writer. “I’m co-writing one episode this year,” the 41-year-old recently shared in an interview with PEOPLE. “It’s really exciting to support fellow actors and people that you love trying new things. For me in particular, obviously, writing has been a very new venture, but I’m very excited.”

The new opportunity is a “massive deal” to Metz, who is also an accomplished singer-songwriter. Notably, her musical background is something that Metz feels helped her be able to take on the challenge of co-writing a This Is Us script. “It’s really exciting because I think it’s helping my songwriting, which is really great, and also understanding characters and writing for their voices,” she explained. “Also [series creator] Dan [Fogelman] is such a great mentor, and I get to write with Casey Gettinger and David Windsor, who are our writing team. It’s been really wonderful.”

Metz also addressed the show ending and shared how she’s feeling about it currently. “I’ll be sitting there about to put a scene up and I’m like, ‘Oh, this is the last time that I might be doing this. Or the last time we’re at this location,’” she said. “I have to suppress those feelings because it might not be conducive to the scene.”

“I want to really enjoy and relish the moments that I do have as opposed to just crying through them, so it’s weird,” Metz continued. “Also, I feel like it’s a story that could go on forever, so part of my delusional mind is like, ‘Oh, it’s not really ending.’ Part of me is trying to just protect myself.” She then added, “It’s been so much fun and there is a lightness to everything, even though all of the storylines are getting very heavy or deep. There’s just this ease with the cast that’s really nice so it’s all the feelings, it’s all the things.”