This Is Us surprises with best drama cast win at SAG Awards

Finally, the Pearsons have some news to share that won’t leave you in a puddle of tears (though the actors certainly were): The cast of NBC’s heartwarming family drama won the trophy for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series at the SAG Awards on Sunday in Los Angeles.

Milo Ventimiglia accepted the award on behalf of the cast and thanked everyone from creator Dan Fogelman to their assistant directors, production assistants, and casting directors. “There’s one more thing,” he concluded. “To the people that watch with us every Tuesday night and embrace this show that reflects positivity and hope and inclusion: We love you and thank you very much.”

Backstage, Sterling K. Brown — who also made history earlier in the night when he became the first black actor to win Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama — commented on the NBC drama’s surprise victory. “This is awesome,” he said. “My cast has been so generous in celebrating me and this wonderful journey that I’ve been on that tonight we get a chance to celebrate each other, we get to celebrate together. This is the dream.”

Like many in the audience, Brown wasn’t his show to take home the big TV prize. “We were all waiting for them to say The Handmaid’s Tale and we were all ready to politely and deservedly say ‘Handmaid’s Tale is dope,’ but when they called our network television drama. None of these other shows look like us, and the fact that we got a chance to come and we WON??? This is a very special night. I told my cast this is like a top 5 special night in terms of these awards. It’s so nice to be able to do it with the family.”

The breakout hit, which has already been renewed for a third season, followed even more of the Pearson family’s trials and tribulations in season 2, which saw Kevin (Justin Hartley) struggling with alcoholism, Randall (Sterling K. Brown) questioning his abilities as a father, and Kate (Chrissy Metz) moving forward with her relationship.

The looming question — for audiences, anyway — of how patriarch Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) died and left wife Rebecca (Mandy Moore) widowed also held the spotlight over the show’s sophomore year. But of course, This Is Us isn’t just a show about what happened in the Pearsons’ past. As creator Dan Fogelman told EW last fall, “The show is not about Jack’s death, and if that’s all you care about, you’re missing the point.”

This Is Us cast members Brown, Hartley, Metz, Ventimiglia, Moore, Eris Baker, Ron Cephas Jones, Alexandra Breckenridge, Lonnie Chavis, Faithe Herman, Chris Sullivan, Susan Kelechi Watson, and Hannah Zeile were honored with the ensemble award. The series beat out fellow nominees The Crown, Game of Thrones, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Stranger Things.