Miguel (Jon Huertas) can finally relax — Bandleader Ben has emerged as the new villain/Jack cockblocker on This Is Us.
Last night's episode of the NBC drama saw Ben (played by True Blood alum Sam Trammell) weaseling his way into Rebecca (Mandy Moore) and Jack's Milo Ventimiglia) marriage. Ben happens to be Mama Pearson's ex and bandmate, which irks Jack to no end. The couple clashed over her plans to go on tour, and while that's not strictly Ben's fault — the woman's allowed to pursue a career, for crying out loud — viewers are not impressed with the character's smarmy, manipulative ways. Basically, everyone's ready to blame him for a potential Pearson divorce (which hasn't been confirmed) and Miguel's eventual ascension to the husband-of-Rebecca throne.
In an interview with Us Weekly, Trammell admitted to getting heat from people he actually knows.
“At school I had one of the parents came up to me and say, ‘You know, I don’t know what’s going on with your character, Sam, but this could ruin our relationship,’” the actor shared, referencing his twin sons' school. “One of the dads told me that! I had no idea he was watching the show.”
Trammell added that he could see why fans could see Ben as a threat.
"I completely understand people!” he said. “I figured, maybe I would take a little heat off Miguel. I totally would get if people are unsure about my character because Jack is such an incredible husband and dad, the bar is so high, that yeah, anybody messing with that, I figure, is going to possibly get the ire of a lot of the audience.
“This guy is putting his foot in his mouth, he just says the wrong things," he continued. “He wants the band to do well and he doesn’t have a family, I don’t think, so he doesn’t understand. He doesn’t get how important those two are, how important their presence to each other is, and they have the kids and the audience sees all these details and falls in love with the family — and rightly so, and they should — but yeah, this guy, he just doesn’t know what their life is. He’s just a guy who is about the band.”
Boy, bye.
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