Justin Hartley is still getting stopped on the street, and it’s all because of This Is Us.
The actor popped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon this week and talked about something that just keeps happening. Strangers walk up to him to share personal stories about the NBC drama. Years after the show wrapped, people are still finding him to say exactly what it meant to them. The Tonight Show’s Instagram captured the moment, noting that people still approach Hartley to share their personal connection to the series.
And honestly, is anyone surprised? This Is Us was something else.
The show ran on NBC from 2016 to 2022 and built a reputation for making people really, genuinely cry. The kind that hits hard. You pause the episode and just sit with it for a minute. Dan Fogelman created it, and it became one of network TV’s most emotionally charged dramas in years. It tackled grief, addiction, and a complicated kind of family love. A lot of people recognize that kind of thing from their own lives. Real, messy stuff. Handled with a lot of heart.
Hartley played Kevin Pearson across all six seasons. Kevin was the charming, complicated middle Pearson kid. He looked like he had everything figured out. He really, really didn’t. He worked through addiction struggles, relationship heartbreak, and a long reckoning with who he actually was. Hartley brought genuine warmth to all of it. The character felt real. That’s probably why people still want to find Hartley and talk about Kevin years after the finale.
The series earned serious critical attention along the way. Sterling K. Brown received Emmy recognition for his portrayal of Randall Pearson. The cast was consistently in the awards conversation, and the show collected nominations across multiple seasons. Critics loved it as much as viewers did.
The show wrapped with a much-discussed finale in May 2022. Now it lives on streaming, and new viewers discover it regularly. A lot of them apparently end up wanting to find Hartley and tell him what hit them hardest. That’s a pretty cool thing.
That staying power is genuinely exciting. Most shows fade from the cultural conversation within months of their finale. This Is Us clearly landed differently. It took on tough subjects with care. Viewers responded. They still are.
Hartley’s co-stars included Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore. Sterling K. Brown and Chrissy Metz were also central to the ensemble. They played the same characters across wildly different timelines and life stages. It was a complicated thing to pull off. They did it well, season after season.
There’s something genuinely cool about that kind of legacy. This Is Us wasn’t built on a franchise or existing IP. It was an original network drama about one family. And years after it ended, people are still tracking down the cast to say thank you.
For Hartley, that clearly means something. Every time a stranger stops him with a story, it’s proof the show connected. Not every actor gets to carry that with them.
He’s kept active since the finale, picking up new projects and staying visible on the press circuit. Kevin Pearson clearly follows him everywhere. His Tonight Show appearance made that pretty obvious.
This Is Us is streaming now. Go watch it. Bring tissues.
