‘This Is Us’ Boss Teases Kevin & Nicky’s Relationship With Newcomer Cassidy: ‘It’s Complicated’
This Is Us viewers have had a week to digest all of the twists, turns, and new characters that were introduced in the Season 4 premiere. Now, the fan theories are flying, especially when it comes to Cassidy, Jennifer Morrison’s troubled character who somehow ties into the Pearson family’s story.
In the This Is Us Season 4 premiere, titled “Strangers,” viewers met Cassidy Sharp, a military officer who is struggling with PTSD and alcoholism after returning from Afghanistan, as previously shared by The Inquisitr. After an altercation with her husband, Ryan (Nick Wechsler), and young son upon her return home, Cassidy lands at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, which is interrupted by a drunken, window-smashing Nicky Pearson (Griffin Dunne).
But lest you think Cassidy just “happened” to be sitting in that particular AA meeting when Nicky came crashing, think again. This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman told The Wrap that Cassidy and the other new characters introduced in the “Strangers” episode will play “massive” parts in the new season and the Pearson family’s overall story.
“They are not just in a one-off episode as the person who was in the room when Nicky threw the chair through the window,” the This Is Us boss teased of Cassidy.
Fans know that after a drunk and angry Nicky broke the window at the AA building, he called his nephew Kevin (Justin Hartley) to come and bail him out in Pennsylvania, where Cassidy also lives.
While Fogelman can not reveal the family dynamics just yet, he told Entertainment Weekly, fan speculation that Cassidy was brought in as a love interest for Kevin is premature.
“I can’t say too much about it other than the relationship is complicated, it’s formative, and it’s a very deep, interesting, bizarre relationship. And whether or not it’s ever romantic is for the series to delve into a little bit later on. But it’s an interesting thing when you look back — she’s going to be somebody who adjusts a part of the course of Kevin’s life.”
Fan theories about Cassidy’s place in Pearson family history are rampant.
PopSugar notes that fans zeroed in on the weird look Cassidy gives Nicky as she walks by him as he is arrested at the end of the episode. Many viewers think Cassidy could be Nicky’s long-lost daughter. As a reminder, in a flashback scene with Nicky and Jack (Milo Ventimiglia), Nicky did say that he once had a house before moving into his trailer. So perhaps he had a family, too.
Other fans believe Cassidy may be someone who helps Nicky come to terms with his own PTSD from Vietnam, and that they help each other mend fences with their families.
But of course, the most common fan theory is that Cassidy will become Kevin’s love interest and the future mother of his son, who we have already seen in a flash-forward scene.
With This Is Us renewed for three more full seasons, it could be a while before Cassidy’s whole story plays out.
This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.
