NEW YORK – Sterling K. Brown and Dan Fogelman realise that some viewers might want another This Is Us (2016 to 2022).

That tear-jerking NBC hit, created by American writer-producer Fogelman, was a sprawling, time-hopping family drama in which American actor Brown played Randall Pearson, the adopted black son in a white family, who is grappling with his mental health.

Millions of weekly viewers fell in love with Randall, a man who, as Brown described him, was exceptionally forthcoming with his feelings.

But his character in the political series Paradise, also created by Fogelman, is not Randall. He is physically intimidating and stoic, a Secret Service agent who keeps his feelings closely guarded.

“I’m sure there’ll be about 12 per cent of people who are like, ‘This ain’t Randall, what’s going on?’” Brown, 48, said. “Then for that 12 per cent, hopefully, after the pilot, they’ll be like: ‘Oh, this ain’t Randall. Let’s see what they’re doing next.’”

What they are doing next is a sci-fi thriller, now available on Disney+, in which Brown’s character Xavier is assigned to protect the US president (James Marsden).

The job becomes more complicated when the president is found murdered early in the pilot. Augmenting the crisis is the seemingly idyllic but eerily nondescript setting, where the commander in chief lives in a white house that does not seem to be the White House.

Paradise is in many ways a return to familiarity for Brown and Fogelman, who worked together for six seasons on This Is Us, racking up nine Emmy nominations between them and one win, for best drama actor. They brought back many of the crew from This Is Us, from directors to hair and make-up artists.

“It is a homecoming on so many levels,” Brown said.

At the same time, Paradise represents an evolution. Brown is an executive producer of the series, bringing a new dimension to his and Fogelman’s creative partnership.

And there was no question as to whether they could trust each other – that was already established in all those years of giving life to Randall Pearson.

“Eight years into our relationship, I just know that whatever I give Sterling, he’s going to be able to do and do extraordinarily well,” Fogelman, 48, said in a separate video call.

Paradise was not first conceived as a chance to reunite. Fogelman was already thinking through the story’s general conto...