Why Sterling K. Brown Turned Down Chance at Directing This Is Us

This Is Us Star Sterling K. Brown is recalling a missed opportunity as he prepares for the debut of his new television series, Paradise.

“This Is Us offered a bit of catharsis. Usually, at the end of every episode, you got a chance to lay a burden down,” Brown told Variety in an interview published on January 24, referring to the new series. “This one, the burdens just keep piling up. It’s more intrigue and anticipation.”

While this new Hulu series offers Brown an opportunity to grow in a different direction from his beloved character, Randall Pearson, he is reunited with Dan Fogelman, who serves as the series creator and executive producer — the same role he had on This Is Us. And unlike his last experience with Fogelman, Brown said, he might branch out and direct an episode (or more) of the new series.

“What I’m most intrigued by in any sort of thing is performance. As a director, you have to be intrigued with the totality of it all. And sometimes I’m like, ‘I don’t really care about this,’” he explained. “I’ll let the world-builders do their thing. But if I was going to do it, that would be a fun opportunity, because I know that crew. I know they would have my back.”

Brown is also an executive producer on the new show — a position that’s provided him the opportunity to really dig into the details of the series, like the show’s 80’s-inspired soundtrack.

“It almost feels very much like Bridgerton, which I was watching over the pandemic,” he explained. “It’s like we’ve taken these songs that are very familiar and we’ve updated them in the covers. I remember Jordan Peele in ‘Us’ did a cover of ‘I Got 5 on It’ — ba-dump bum, ba-dump bum, ba-dump bum. And as soon as you heard it in the trailer, every Black person was like, ‘Oh, s–t! “I Got 5 on It”!’ We’re hoping for a certain demographic, they’ll hear the songs and be like, ‘Oh, s–t.’”

Partnering with Fogelman on the new Hulu series was easy, the actor also said. “He goes, ‘I wrote this show, and as I’m writing it, I realized I was kind of writing it for you.’ He said, ‘If you’re not interested, all good, I understand — but if you are, then we can talk about it.’ So I was like, ‘Bro, you’ve written six years of dope-ass shit — let me take a gander.’”

Paradise is set in a quiet, wealthy community and follows the story of Xavier Collins, Secret Service agent and father of two whose world turns upside down after a former U.S. president is killed.

As Brown put it, “Paradise is the exploration of that storyline, but it’s also about how people deal with crisis, how you move on when the world has been flipped upside down and you don’t necessarily see a way to move forward but there is.”

Paradise premieres on Hulu on January 28.