This Is Us actor Jon Huertas has reflected on the initial unpopularity of his character Miguel Rivas.
A recurring face since the time-twisting family drama's opening season, it took a while for fans to warm to Miguel, with the backdrop of his and Jack Pearson's supposed rivalry.
Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy recently, Huertas delved into this topic at length.
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"At the beginning, when they first revealed that Miguel was married to Rebecca, and people did have that adverse reaction to this coupling – that's completely understandable. But as an actor, you want your characters to be likeable. It's kind of how you keep your job," Huertas said, before revealing how he and the writers combined to alter the dynamic.
"There was worry that: 'Hey man, the audience is not liking this character. Is that what we're going for?' They were questions that I had with the writers. 'And, you know, if it's not, how are we going to turn this around? And what is the plan?'
"It took a while, I think, to kind of flesh out who Miguel was. What was great is that... I collaborated with the writers to bring Miguel to life – breathing life into the character. At the beginning, his name was Mike. It wasn't even Miguel."
The Castle and Sabrina the Teenage Witch star added: "We had to re-record the dialogue from the other actors, because they had said 'Mike' when we were filming. So they had to go in and change it to Miguel."
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Further along, he also weighed in on Miguel's overlooked influence on "the success" of the Pearson clan.
"Jack got a job from Miguel. And Jack's promotions – Miguel was his champion in that. And Miguel was always trying to make sure that Jack was there for his family, taking care of his family, and doing the right thing for his family.
"There were early moments throughout the six seasons where I would notice audience members noticing that, and talking about it [on social media]... It was small smatterings of chatter at the beginning, and by the end, I was in the deep end with all of the fans of the show with Miguel.
"They'd finally, all noticed, I think, that Miguel... there were no nefarious intentions from him to steal Rebecca from Jack. So it was nice to see this gradual thing. People loved Jack from the beginning. And that's cool. But to me, it's more interesting to gain someone's love, and gain someone's trust," explained Huertas.
Would viewers welcome Miguel back for a potential This Is Us spin-off?
This Is Us aired on NBC in the US, and UK Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ in the UK.
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Reporter, Digital Spy
Dan is a freelance entertainment journalist. Beginning his writing career in 2014, Dan's work first graced the pages of cult publications Starburst magazine and Little White Lies before moving onto Total Film, Digital Spy, NME and Yahoo Entertainment.
In the film and TV universe, he kneels at the altar of Jim Carrey, Daniel Plainview, Mike Ehrmantraut and Paulie Walnuts.
After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
