For six seasons, viewers knew Susan Kelechi Watson as Beth Pearson, Randall’s (Sterling K. Brown) intelligent, unflappable and graceful wife. In her followup TV role to This Is Us, Watson plays Jasmine Haney, the White House Deputy Usher and one of many suspects on the Netflix murder mystery series The Residence starring Uzo Aduba as a brilliant and eccentric detective assigned with solving the case.
As she testifies during a congressional hearing about the death of her boss, White House Chief Usher A.B. Wynter (Giancarlo Esposito), Haney utters the line, “This is us,” much to the delight of fans of the NBC family drama.
Because of the meta link, there was suspicion that the line may have been improvised. In an interview with Deadline, Watson explained whether the line was in the script, whether it was it intentional and how fun it was to say it.
“It was in the script. It was intentional,” she said in the video, which you can watch below. “And I tried to break up the rhythm of it so that it didn’t sound like I was back on NBC with the show. You’ll never realize how much you say ‘This is us’ in life as a regular phrase until you’ve been on that show. But it was something that I feel like fans will hear and pick up on. And I tried to do my due diligence to, I guess, camouflage it as best as I could, but it was kind of cool to be able to say it as well.”
Speaking of improvising, Watson’s Residence co-star Ken Marino, who plays the President’s foul-mouthed chief adviser Harry Hollinger, confirmed that all the F-bombs his character drops on the show — as well as the unfortunate beard he sports in the last few episodes — were in the script.
At Netflix’s Wednesday night premiere of The Residence, there was no mention of Andre Braugher, the Emmy-winning actor who was originally cast as A.B. and played the character for the four episodes that were completed before production was shut down by the 2023 writers strike. As the eight-episode series was gearing up to go back to production in December of 2023, Braugher passed away after a brief illness at the age of 61. The series pays tribute to him with a card at the end of the finale.
In an emotional interview alongside Marino, who is seen wiping tears, Watson, whose character has many scenes with A.B., reminisced about working with Braugher and the shock of his death. (You can watch the video below.)
“It was a tough thing that happened to us, to the world, to Andre’s family; tough is an understatement,” she said. “It was such a huge moment finding out we were going to work together. Honest to God, I think he is not only brilliant as a dramatic actor but his comedy, it’s really quite genius; some of the stuff that he’s able to do comedically that seemed to just come naturally to him. I remember when I went on set for the first time, the first person I bumped into was Andre Braugher in all his magnificent stature. And what a great person he was off camera as well, funny, charismatic family man, so smart.”
Watson called Braugher’s death “a loss on so many levels,” adding, “I won’t ever do it justice with words, but please know that, from the depths of my heart, it’s such a huge loss.”
She spoke of the options considered by the producers, including “making what he has filmed work or is there a way to transition into a new character.”
Ultimately, a decision was made to recast the role, and Watson had to reshoot her A.B. scenes with Esposito.
“When you can have somebody like Giancarlo, who is an extraordinary actor in his own right but also gives honor to Andre as well, you have somebody who steps in who also cared about him and understands what the legacy of the role he was taking on was, that was really a blessing,” Watson said.
She recalled how moving it was for the cast to gather together for the scene of the big reveal in the finale for what felt like a tribute to Braugher.
“In the last episode, it felt almost like a eulogy to Andre when Uzo speaks about A.B. Wynter,” Watson said. “I remember that day, it was so special to hear it out loud. It was the first time we all got to be in the space and kind of mourn with one another over Andre in this and the special life that he lived.”
Davies confirmed to Deadline that he wrote that speech after Braugher’s death. “It had meaning to me that way,” he said.
Looking back, “this show, we’ve been through a lot,” Watson said of The Residence. “There’s a lot of joy and a lot of laughter and a lot of fun. But we went through some tough things, coming out of Covid, and [going] through the writers strike, and then dear Andre transitioned but in the midst of all that, we were able to find solace in this really fun script that we all really love and enjoy, and we put even more excellence, I think, into it for that reason.
The post Susan Kelechi Watson On Meta “This Is Us” Line In ‘The Residence’, Working With Both Andre Braugher & Giancarlo Esposito On Netflix Series appeared first on Deadline.
