"[It's] a lot to process."
Justin Hartley is getting ready to meet Nicky Pearson!
ET's Lauren Zima chatted with the This Is Us star at the 2019 Critics' Choice Awards on Sunday and he dished about a major upcoming storyline on the NBC series.
This Is Us' fall finale revealed that Nicky Pearson -- the supposedly dead brother to beloved patriarch Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) -- is actually alive. Ahead of the show's return on Tuesday, the 41-year-old actor shared that his character, Kevin Pearson, will meet his uncle "really, really, really soon."
"Well, we don't even know if he's gonna meet him, right? He's gonna. I mean, that's the thing, who's keeping that secret, right?" Hartley explained. "We all know that's happening."
Though Hartley wouldn't reveal how the meeting between the two guys goes, he did say "it's probably not going to be all rainbows and butterflies."
"Here's a guy who's lived in solitude his whole life, who we thought was dead, because we were told by our father -- who is dead -- that he was dead. And now it's like, 'Wait, he's not dead?'" Hartley pondered. "So, should we be mad about that? Like, what's the deal? Like, why did you tell us he was deceased? There's a huge story behind all of that. [It's] a lot to process."
Aside from his This Is Us role, Hartley is also set to star in Little, a quasi-reverse remake of the Tom Hanks classic, Big.
"It's hilarious," Hartley gushed of the movie, which sees a workaholic (Regina Hall) turn into a 13-year-old version of herself (Marsai Martin), who's helped by her assistant (Issa Rae). "Those people over there are so creative and kind of open. I came in there kind of guns blazing and kind of had my own idea of what this character was."
Despite his small role in Little, Hartley was eager to add his own flare to the hot teacher character.
"I always try to add whatever I can in those small little roles. They are so fun. They, like, jump in, you play for a couple minutes and then you leave," he said. "They definitely had all the heavy lifting. I literally made a quick little appearance, but I wanted it to be impactful and kind of inform the other characters, so they kind of let me do my thing."
Additionally, Hartley teased that his character isn't totally what he appears to be in the film's trailer.
"There are a few things in the trailer that you are not seeing about my character that you wouldn't want to bring this guy home," he said of the role.
Watch the video below for more on the actor:
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