Mandy Moore and her former This Is Us costars will always be family — and are sticking together no matter what.
“Day 1. Proud to stand with my fellow @sagaftra and @wgawest members demanding a fair contract,” Moore, 39, wrote via Instagram on Friday, July 14, sharing a photo with Chrissy Metz and Jon Huertas from the picket line in Los Angeles.
The group were joined by several of their pals, including Seamus Dever, Juliana Dever, Rachel Leah Cohen and Gerardo Celasco — who is married to fellow This Is Us alum Jennifer Morrison.
The stars all held up “SAG-AFTRA On Strike” posters to show their support for their labor union, which has not reached an agreement with TV and film studios over fair wages and the use of artificial intelligence in media.
The president of SAG-AFTRA, Fran Drescher, announced on Thursday, July 13, that the union — which represents more than 160,000 performers — had voted to go on strike after the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) did not agree to any of their terms.
“This is a very seminal hour for us. I went in thinking that we would be able to avert a strike. The gravity of this move is not lost on me,” Drescher, 65, said in a press conference. “It’s a very serious thing that impacts thousands, if not millions of people all across this country and around the world. Not only members of this union but people who work in other industries that service the people that work in this industry. … We had no choice. We are the victims here. We are being victimized by a very greedy entity.”
The AMPTP, which governs TV and film studios and streaming platforms, noted in a statement of its own that they are “deeply disappointed that SAG-AFTRA has decided to walk away from negotiations” and start striking.
Per terms of the strike, unionized actors are forbidden from filming TV and movie projects. They are also not allowed to promote their work, including past, present or future projects. Instead, many actors have joined the already-striking Writers Guild of America, who are also picketing the AMPTP.
“Oh yeah! We out here!!!” Huertas, 53, wrote via his Instagram Story on Friday, sharing photos from the front lines.
Moore and Metz, 42, also shared the group photos via their respective Instagram pages. “Fam for life,” Metz gushed on Friday.
Moore, Metz and Huertas all starred as members of the multigenerational Pearson family on This Is Us for all of its six seasons. The NBC drama, which premiered in September 2016, followed the brood across multiple timelines as the “Big Three” siblings — Metz, Justin Hartley and Sterling K. Brown, respectively — grew up. Moore and Milo Ventimiglia played the trio’s parents, Rebecca and Jack Pearson. Huertas, for his part, portrayed Jack’s BFF and Rebecca’s second husband, Miguel Rivas. The show — which concluded in May 2022 — also starred Susan Kelechi Watson and Chris Sullivan.
“Part of me was really happy that we were able to end the story the way that we wanted to, and part of me is very sad that I’m not gonna be working with these actors on a daily basis and this crew,” Huertas exclusively told Us Weekly in April 2022 of the saying goodbye to the Pearsons. “I’m gonna miss that, so that’s the sad part.”
He added at the time: “It’s really nice to be able to say, ‘We did that,’ and walk away without feeling any regret and not thinking like, ‘Oh, I wish we could’ve shot that one episode that we always talked about’ or ‘I wish we could’ve done this.’ … We’re happy and proud of [what we did].”
Metz, for her part, told Us in April that she missed “seeing all my friends” since the award-winning series wrapped. “I’m always up for working with all of the whole cast again,” the American Horror Story alum teased, noting she was even down for a potential reunion movie. “I mean, who knows how we would change as people and how that would, of course, change the acting and what the writing would be about. But I’m up for it.”
