Griffin Dunne Set for Key Recurring Role after "This Is Us" Fall Finale Shocker
by Nellie Andreeva
November 27, 2018


"This Is Us" served one of its signature jaw-dropping twists in the final minutes of the Season 3 fall finale tonight, and it involved Jack Pearson’s troublemaker younger brother Nicky.

Long presumed dead, he turned out to have survived the Vietnam War and outlived his hero older brother. In a bombshell development, Nicky was briefly seen in present day, played by veteran actor Griffin Dunne.

We can now reveal that Dunne is joining "This Is Us" in the recurring role of a present-day Nicky Pearson. (The younger version of the character is played by Michael Angarano).

https://deadline.com/2018/11/this-is-us-griffin-dunne-castr-key-recurring-role-after-nicky-fall-finale-shocker-1202510085/

Griffin Dunne's personal experience with the Vietnam Draft helped with his This Is Us role (https://variety.com/2019/tv/features/this-is-us-present-day-nicky-griffin-dunne-interview-1203134112/)

Dunne explains how he got into his mindset for Tuesday's episode: "I got a draft card when I turned 18 just like everybody else on June 8th would have gotten. I have to do the math what year it was, but I got the card and the number was pretty low. I took that to mean I had a pretty high chance of being drafted. But within a month they ended the draft system and ended up pulling troops out of Vietnam. But in an alternate life I’ve often thought what my life would be like if I was drafted. I found that war, growing up with it and watching it on television, just terrifying. In the jungle, and booby traps and snipers and the monsoons — it looked like I was never going to live through that. So Vietnam since has always held a fascination for me. I just imagined what could have been, which, thank God, was not."

Griffin Dunne Promoted to Series Regular for "This Is Us" Season 4
by Nellie Andreeva
September 24, 2019


Present-day Nicky is becoming a permanent member of the Pearson clan on NBC’s "This Is Us".

Griffin Dunne, who was introduced as an older version of Jack’s once-presumed-dead younger brother Nicky in one of Season 3’s biggest twists, has been upped to series regular for the series’ fourth season.

https://deadline.com/2019/09/this-is-us-griffin-dunne-promoted-series-regular-season-4-nbc-series-1202744092/