The singer talks to ET about the band's surprise appearance in the holiday series' finale and why it wasn't in the original plan.
Surprise! The Jonas Brothers pop in for a festive appearance in Netflix's sweet, escapist holiday series, Dash & Lily, where they take the stage in snowy New York City and perform their Christmas song, "Like It's Christmas."
Nick Jonas, who serves as an executive producer on the eight-episode series, also makes a separate cameo, where he plays himself and gives love advice about a monumental decision one of the main characters is about to make in a vital, game-changing scene. Their scenes were filmed last November while the Jonas Brothers were in the middle of their Happiness Begins Tour.
Based on the popular young adult book series, Dash & Lily's Book of Dares, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, the holiday romance follows the cynical Dash (Austin Abrams) and the optimistic Lily (Midori Francis) as they embark on a memorable adventure through New York City without ever meeting. Communicating only through a red notebook, the teenagers trade dares, dreams and desires they pass back and forth at locations across the city, finding they have more in common with each other than they may have expected.
Other executive producers on the series include Joe Tracz, Shawn Levy and Josh Barry.
Jonas, 28, spoke to ET's Rachel Smith in October about what drew him into Dash & Lily in the first place, which marks his first official non-music project as an EP.
"The thing I was drawn to most about this project, there were a few things. One of it is my love for New York City. I spent a lot of time there in New York and Broadway doing shows. And then as I got older, I lived in between New York and L.A. for a number of years. I have a romantic view of it," he said. "Obviously, in this time when New York looks very different today than it did last year when we shot this show, there's a really nostalgic, wonderful, romanticizing of the city that you see in the show."
"And then the themes and the characters -- it's about taking risks and putting yourself out there," Jonas continued. "These characters are coming of age in a way, which is also really fun to see the insecurities that we all feel naturally as we kind of come into our own. But they play out into really adult themes in a really strong way so I'm so excited for people to see it. It's the kind of feel-good programming we all need going into the holiday season."
As for the Jonas Brothers' surprise appearance, Jonas revealed that it wasn't always in the cards for them to perform.
"It wasn't actually," Jonas confirmed. "Shawn Levy, who's the other executive producer of the show with 21 Laps -- we go a long way back with him to the Night at the Museum days, we were the cherubs in that movie. We've always tried to think of something we could work on together and he sent this to me and I loved it. He was backstage at one of our shows, while we were already in production on [Dash & Lily]. He came back and we started talking about the show and if there was any way possibly for us to pop up and do something."
"And basically, what we talked about that night over a glass of tequila is what became the cameo on the show. And Joe [Tracz], the writer, did an amazing job of putting it in there and I think it was kind of meant to be. But we had to jam it in on a show day just before our concert in New Jersey," he shared. "So I owe my brothers a little bit for spending their day off on set with me and Dash & Lily, but they had a great time and it was a fun thing to get done."
Jonas discussed the game-changing scene he has with the young actors on Dash & Lily, where he mentions his relationship with wife Priyanka Chopra.
"For any person that proposes to their person and, even as confident as self-assured as you can be walking into that situation, it's still a little nerve-wrecking. And it should be because it's a pretty big question," he reflected. "It was fun to be able to say that and it was really funny because I'm sitting there going, 'OK here I am, not much older than these young actors, but here I'm giving this advice.' Made me feel kind of like, 'Oh s**t I'm getting older and it's happening.'"
"It was a nice little scene and hopefully there was need to hear that message and feel inspired to go and do whatever they need to do," Jonas said.
Dash & Lily drops Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 12:01 a.m. PT on Netflix.
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