You probably know him as the kid who survived a kidnapping, a freezing river, and the general chaos of being a Dutton. Brecken Merrill is basically the face of childhood trauma on Yellowstone. But if you were watching the emotional rollercoaster that was the Brecken Merrill This Is Us crossover event—okay, it wasn't a crossover, but it felt like one—you might have done a double-take during the series finale.
It's weird. You spend years watching a kid grow up on a ranch in Montana, and then suddenly he’s in the suburbs of New Jersey wearing a different name.
Most fans missed it. Or they saw him and thought, "Wait, is that Tate?" Yes. It was. In the final stretch of one of the most-watched dramas in TV history, Merrill traded his cowboy boots for the complicated legacy of the Pearson family. He didn't just show up for a background shot; he played a pivotal piece of the future timeline.
Who Did Brecken Merrill Play in This Is Us?
Let’s clear up the confusion first. Because This Is Us loves its time jumps more than a Dutton loves a property line, people get mixed up about which "Nicky" is which.
Brecken Merrill played Teen Nicky Jr., the son of Kevin Pearson (Justin Hartley) and Madison Simons (Caitlin Thompson). He appeared in the final two episodes of the series, "The Train" and "Us."
Honestly, it was a blink-and-you-miss-it bit of casting for some, but for Yellowstone fans, it was a massive "worlds colliding" moment. He wasn't playing a younger version of Griffin Dunne’s Uncle Nicky. He was playing the namesake. The next generation. Kevin named his son after his uncle, and Merrill was the one tapped to show us what that kid looked like as he navigated his teen years.
The funny thing? There was actually a lot more filmed than we got to see.
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Merrill has mentioned in interviews that Nicky Jr. originally had a much fuller storyline. He worked with Justin Hartley and Mandy Moore, filming scenes that fleshed out the family dynamic in those final "future" sequences. But because the finale was trying to wrap up roughly eighty years of family history in about 44 minutes, a lot of the Nicky Jr. stuff ended up on the cutting room floor.
The Weird Shift From Yellowstone to the Pearson Lot
Imagine going from a ranch in the middle of nowhere, where you’re literally fighting snakes and falling into rivers, to a pristine soundstage at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles.
Brecken Merrill has talked about how different the vibes were. On Yellowstone, he’s the "baby" of the set, even as he’s grown into a teenager. He’s surrounded by horses and Kevin Costner’s "tough love" mentorship. Then he walks onto the set of This Is Us, a show that’s essentially the Olympic Games of crying.
He described the experience as "bittersweet."
He was the new guy entering a family that had been together for six years. Most of the cast was mourning the end of an era while he was just trying to figure out where his mark was. Plus, his mom was a massive fan of the show. Imagine the pressure of guest-starring on your mom’s favorite show right before it ends.
"I didn't know that much about This Is Us but my mom was a big fan and watched every episode, so she filled me in on who was who." — Brecken Merrill in a 2022 interview.
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Why the Brecken Merrill This Is Us Connection Matters
Why do people care about this specific cameo?
It’s because Merrill represents a specific type of "prestige TV" child actor. Usually, kid actors stay in one lane. They’re "Disney kids" or they’re "Nickelodeon kids." Merrill is a "Gritty Drama" kid.
By showing up in the Brecken Merrill This Is Us finale, he bridged the gap between the two biggest shows on television. You have the rural, conservative-leaning mega-hit Yellowstone and the urban, liberal-leaning emotional powerhouse This Is Us. He is one of the few actors to have a footprint in both worlds at the exact same time.
What Most People Get Wrong About His Role
- The "Uncle Nicky" Confusion: A lot of viewers thought he was playing a flashback version of Uncle Nicky (Griffin Dunne). He wasn't. He was Kevin's son.
- The "One-Off" Myth: People think it was just a cameo. It was meant to be a guest-starring arc, but time constraints in the finale limited his screen time.
- The Montana Connection: No, Yellowstone and This Is Us do not exist in the same universe. Though, let's be real, Beth Dutton would have solved the Pearson family's problems in about twenty minutes, mostly by insulting Toby until he left.
Growing Up in Front of the Camera
There’s a specific kind of weight that comes with being Brecken Merrill.
On Yellowstone, he’s had to play scenes where his character is suffering from PTSD. He’s had to handle firearms (under heavy supervision) and deal with heavy, adult themes since he was eight years old.
By the time he got to This Is Us, he was 13 or 14. He was transitionng from "the cute kid" to a young man with actual range. Playing Teen Nicky Jr. required a different kind of acting. It wasn't about physical danger; it was about the quiet, internal awkwardness of a teenager at a funeral.
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The contrast is wild. In one show, he’s branding cattle. In the other, he’s sitting in a room in New Jersey, contemplating the legacy of his grandmother.
What’s Next for Brecken?
Now that This Is Us is over and Yellowstone is—well, Yellowstone is currently a bit of a question mark depending on when you’re reading this—Merrill is moving into film.
He’s got a project called We All Got Up to Dance, which is a period piece set during the Vietnam War. He plays a rebellious 13-year-old. It sounds like he’s sticking to the "complicated kid" brand that has worked so well for him so far.
If you’re looking to track his career, don't just look for him in a cowboy hat. The Brecken Merrill This Is Us appearance proved he can do the "suburban drama" thing just as well as the "western" thing.
Takeaways for the Fans:
- Rewatch the Finale: If you missed him, go back to the This Is Us finale. Look for the teen version of Kevin's son. That's him.
- Don't Pigeonhole Him: He isn't just "Tate Dutton." He’s a versatile actor who managed to land a spot on two of the decade’s most influential shows before he could even drive.
- Watch the Range: Compare his performance in Yellowstone Season 4 with his This Is Us scenes. The body language is completely different.
Honestly, the kid has a bright future. Whether he’s playing a Dutton or a Pearson, he’s got that rare ability to make you actually care about what happens to the kids in the story, rather than just waiting for the adults to start talking again.
To see more of his work beyond the Pearson family, keep an eye on the Yellowstone spin-offs or his upcoming lead role in We All Got Up to Dance. His transition from a child actor to a teen lead is one of the more interesting trajectories in Hollywood right now.