Over the course of its six-season run on NBC, This Is Us featured an extensive cast, as the story spanned multiple generations and introduced a plethora of characters who were close to the Pearson family in one decade or another. Alyson Hannigan was not amongst its guest stars, but it turns out her house played a really big role, despite her initial apprehension to allow the tear-jerking drama to use it as a filming location.
The How I Met Your Mother star once opened up about how her home became the cabin that Kevin Pearson (Justin Hartley) designed and built for his mother — the home where Rebecca (Mandy Moore) ultimately died. In 2021, Alyson Hannigan told Sirius XM’s The Michelle Collins Show (via ET) that before they’d moved in, the house was regularly used for film shoots. Despite turning down studios who requested “at least twice a month” to film there, the actress and her husband reconsidered after learning This Is Us’ director was a neighbor of theirs. Hannigan said:
We were like, 'If we are ever going to do it, we would do it for that show 'cause it’s so good.’
I have to agree, the drama that aired from 2016 to 2022 was pretty great, that that cabin became almost a character in itself for what it meant to Kevin and for the fact that it’s where all of the Pearsons gathered in Rebecca’s final days.
However, one can understand why the American Pie actress wouldn’t be too enthusiastic about inviting a film crew into the home she shared with husband Alexis Denisof and their children Keeva and Satyana. Alyson Hannigan even said they “know what productions do to locations,” and what a picturesque location it was! If you don’t remember what the Pearson cabin looked like, refresh your memory with this spread on Instagram:
It seems like it all turned out for the best in the end. Alyson Hannigan told the podcast that in addition to fixing any damage sustained during filming, the production went above and beyond in returning the home to mint condition. She said:
Not only did they give us our house back in wonderful shape, they fixed things that I had damaged. They were touching up some paint or whatever, and there is clearly like one of my kids' handprints on a wall and they’re like, 'Would you like us to do that as well?' And I’m like, 'I know that wasn’t from you, but yeah, thank you.'
With that cabin being the setting where so many Pearson mysteries were introduced and then finally solved in This Is Us’ 2034 timeline, I don’t think I could ever think of anyone living there other than Rebecca and Miguel (Jon Huertas). It was a really emotional time, guys, don’t you remember all of those wild plot twists?
If you want to relive the Pearson saga, all six seasons are available to stream with either a Netflix subscription or Hulu subscription. Also be sure to check out our 2024 TV schedule to see what premieres are headed our way.