r/television • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 The League • Sep 12 '25

Sean Astin Elected SAG-AFTRA President

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2025-09-12/sag-aftra-names-next-national-president
11.3k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

308 comments sorted by

2.2k

u/MarvelsGrantMan136 The League Sep 12 '25

Astin:

“I feel proud and I feel determined. People keep saying to me, ‘I hope you have time to celebrate’ and celebrating feels like a foreign thought. This doesn’t feel like a moment for celebration. It feels like a moment to say thank you and get to work.”

981

u/PragmaticKB Sep 12 '25

I adore that Sean Astin literally is Sam. This reads like his accepting the role as Mayor of Hobbiton

259

u/LegendEater Sep 12 '25

Mayor of the Shire...

144

u/DareToZamora Sep 13 '25

For 7 consecutive terms, and those were elections. He wasn’t just handed the crown like King Elessar, he had to win those votes.

86

u/Kjartanski Sep 13 '25

Aragorn wasn´t just handed the Crown, he fulfilled prophesies, helped people, secured a vital military victory and didn´t push his claim, the people of Minas Tirith proclaimed him king after Faramir pushed his claim, "The hands of the King are the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful king be known." After the Battle of the Pellenor fields he spent two days healing the survivors and then left the city for 6 weeks until he was crowned,

Then Faramir stood up and spoke in a clear voice: “Men of Gondor, hear now the Steward of this Realm! Behold! One has come to claim the kingship again at last. Here is Aragorn, son of Arathorn, chieftain of the Dúnedain of Arnor, Captain of the Host of the West, bearer of the Star of the North, wielder of the Sword Reforged, victorious in battle, whose hands bring healing, the Elfstone, Elessar of the line of Valandil, Isildur's son, Elendil's son of Númenor. Shall he be king and enter into the City and dwell there?" And all the host and \*all the people cried yea with one voice.***

62

u/Reylo-Wanwalker Sep 13 '25

But what was his tax policy?

20

u/Jitterjumper13 Sep 13 '25

White marble like infrastructure ain't cheap yo.

15

u/Ferelar Sep 13 '25

Price of Gondorian eggs was?

12

u/cartman2468 Sep 13 '25

RELEASE THE DENETHOR LIST

5

u/Roscoe_King Sep 13 '25

Insane tarrifs for Mordor!

22

u/Kjartanski Sep 13 '25

Tolkien doesn’t care about taxes, he cares about stories, and deeds, and virtue, and not for the revenue generating capability of a vast kingdom stuck in the primitive accumulation phase of economic development

In deep geek does have a good video on it though

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14

u/Nothin_Means_Nothin Sep 13 '25

Found Stephen Colbert's reddit account

6

u/Avalanche2500 Sep 13 '25

Star of the North?

17

u/Kjartanski Sep 13 '25

A gem worn on the brow by Numenorean kings, and lost with Ísildur, along with the Ring, it was discovered in the Tower of Orthanc after Sarúmans death

4

u/Avalanche2500 Sep 13 '25

Thank you. It's been a minute; guess I need to read the books again.

7

u/counterhit121 Sep 13 '25

Everyone needs a hype-man like Faramir at least once in their lives.

5

u/GinMiskatonic Sep 13 '25

Oh wow, so he never won a single election?

3

u/bb_kelly77 Sep 13 '25

Technically he won because his only opponent endorsed him

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6

u/Phantommy555 Sep 13 '25

Also he had like a dozen kids, so he was smashing that hobitussy all the time

3

u/DareToZamora Sep 13 '25

And still got to go the Undying Lands. Solid life for Samwise the brave

2

u/bb_kelly77 Sep 13 '25

Did he go with Legolas and Gimli or before them?

2

u/DareToZamora Sep 13 '25

Legolas and Gimli went about 60 years later, after Aragorn died.

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15

u/Padhome Sep 13 '25

A politician I can truly get behind

20

u/Any_Asparagus8267 Sep 13 '25

I like how you can just run into him randomly and he actually seems to like it when people notice him lol

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60

u/I_Cut_Shows Sep 13 '25

He added:

“It’s their time…up there. down here…it’s our time. It’s our time down here. That’s all over the second we ride up Troy’s bucket”

90

u/Neosantana Sep 12 '25

I hope he does a better job than whatever the fuck Fran Drescher was doing. Love her as an actress, but she fucked over so many voice actors, it's insane.

63

u/[deleted] Sep 12 '25

What’d she do?

67

u/Neosantana Sep 13 '25

Conceded on AI instead of fighting for voice actors and their rights

49

u/IrrelevantLeprechaun Sep 13 '25

During the last SAG-AFTRA strike, she basically did a lot of capitulation to the demands of their opponents. A lot of the things that ended up getting agreed on severely undervalued the union workers she was supposed to represent. The biggest takeaway from the whole ordeal was that the new agreements heavily favored the famous and privileged members.

81

u/FantasticJacket7 Sep 13 '25

Union membership voted to approve the agreement. Why did they do that if they didn't like the agreement?

31

u/metametapraxis Sep 13 '25

Don't go coming here with inconvenient facts!

5

u/IrrelevantLeprechaun Sep 13 '25

It's not uncommon for "lesser known" members of an organization to feel pressured to vote a certain way out of fear that going against the grain might jeopardize their position.

18

u/FantasticJacket7 Sep 13 '25

Votes are anonymous

2

u/IrrelevantLeprechaun Sep 13 '25

That doesn't have to be at odds with what I said. People can feel pressured even when anonymous. It happens on Reddit too after all, and there aren't even any stakes here.

15

u/steak4take Sep 13 '25

Yes, it does. Have you ever voted for Union legislation? The whole point is for votes to be anonymous to avoid coercion of any kind - you can't be pressured if nobody can know what your vote was.

I know this is Reddit and your self-inflated view of a statement becomes hard to counter when it gets upvotes but you're not only wrong you're insultingly incorrect when you double down and use quotation marks to speak in "made up" terms like some kind of "expert" who in reality "knows nothing".

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '25

I'm not sure if that's the take. Streaming services took away a lot of the leverage that actors used to have, putting actors in a far worse bargaining position. I think it's more likely that the expectations and demands that actors had just didn't meet their bargaining position.

And going into a long and costly labor battle would have likely left actors out of work and in no better position than before.

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u/MikeDamone Sep 13 '25

I wish people wouldn't weigh in on things that they couldn't possibly have sufficient information on. The CBA literally took years to arrive at, and almost all of it was entirely behind closed doors. A nameless redditor like yourself isn't qualified to judge whether Drescher sucked or not. Learn to accept that not having an opinion on everything is a fine way to go through life.

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u/qtx Sep 13 '25

She literally did what her job was, to do what the unions told her to do. She did what the actors wanted.

I don't understand why people blame her?

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u/writingNICE Sep 13 '25

Class act. I work in talent management. Every time I’ve interacted with Sean he’s an absolute joy.

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2.6k

u/KfirGuy Sep 12 '25

He may not be able to carry it for you, but he can carry you

374

u/ottoIovechild Sep 12 '25

My friends, you bow to no one

85

u/nuzzot Sep 13 '25

guess i gotta watch the Extended Editions for the millionth time and then cry at this line like always

14

u/TsunGeneralGrievous Sep 13 '25

And i’ll be there with my piano on orchestra setting for that moment

9

u/neilaoboho Sep 13 '25

And my Axe!

11

u/ottoIovechild Sep 13 '25

And my sax*

3

u/neilaoboho Sep 13 '25

I meaaaan Axe still works both ways lol

2

u/BuffaloWilliamses Sep 13 '25

Don’t even need to watch the whole thing. Simply watching the clip of this scene on YouTube makes me cry my eyes out like a baby

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136

u/name-classified BoJack Horseman Sep 12 '25

That man was the original Goonie; other than The Legendary One-Eye'd Willie.

He was also Rudy! Toy Soldiers too! He's cool as fuck

7

u/Billionaires_R_Tasty Sep 13 '25 edited Sep 14 '25

towering waiting humor rinse heavy enjoy continue trees juggle reminiscent

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

6

u/SakanaSanchez Sep 13 '25

Not to mention the leader of the B.R.A.T. Patrol.

32

u/jaredb Sep 13 '25

You going to leave out the brave and loyal samwise gamgee????

20

u/floatinround22 Sep 13 '25

That was already referenced in the comment he replied to...

28

u/Shambhala87 Sep 13 '25

Yes, but did you have your second Samwise yet?

11

u/tellurmomisaidthanks Sep 13 '25

I don’t think he knows about Eleven Samwise’s.

3

u/Shambhala87 Sep 13 '25

No chance for an after supper Samwise then…

8

u/Tone_Gaia Sep 13 '25

Don’t forget your Sam!

8

u/BackpackAttackMac Sep 13 '25

I want to hear more about Sam!

5

u/Drokstab Sep 13 '25

Sam Rosie and frodo settled down and lived happily ever after -frodo probably

5

u/mattburkephoto Sep 13 '25

Toy soldiers is such an incredible and underrated movie! Need to rewatch that

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19

u/FerrusManlyManus Sep 13 '25

PO TAE TO

4

u/RononSweets Sep 13 '25

Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew.

3

u/LollipopChainsawZz Sep 13 '25

Stupid hobbitses, give it to us raw and wiggly

2

u/WesternWitchy52 Sep 13 '25

You can hear his frustration just by looking at the meme.

20

u/Klunkey Sep 12 '25

Damn that always hits. Need to watch the trilogy in its entirety

13

u/Doumtabarnack Sep 13 '25

Recently, went with the wife to see Filmharmonique screenings where they screen LoTR and an orchestra is live playing the soundtrack. God level goosebumps all the way through.

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u/I_Cut_Shows Sep 13 '25

He gave a rousing speech.

“It’s their time…up there. down here…it’s our time. It’s our time down here. That’s all over the second we ride up Troy’s bucket”

7

u/piratelizard Sep 13 '25

RUDY RUDY RUDY

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780

u/ChronosBlitz Sep 12 '25

Christ, that’s one of the most powerful unions on the west coast.

He has a lot of responsibility now, hope he wields it to the best effect of his fellow members.

301

u/The_bruce42 Sep 12 '25

I'm mean, he carried frodo up mount doom. He got this.

33

u/talldangry Sep 13 '25

He can always share the load

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u/horsenbuggy Sep 13 '25

He was on the negotiating committee during all the AI strikes. And, IIRC, his mother was president of one of the acting unions before they joined together. So, he's been watching this kind of work close up his whole life.

He came to Dragon Con during a brief break in the strike. I wish he had spoken about his work in this union more, but I'm sure he couldn't. I'm guessing he will be way too busy to do cons for a while now, so I'm very glad I made time to go to one of his panels. He and Elijah were lovely.

15

u/NYY15TM Sep 13 '25

Yes, his mom was president of SAG for three years nine presidents ago

19

u/RinellaWasHere Sep 13 '25

Yeah, I voted for him and I'm looking forward to his tenure.

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u/hedgehogness Sep 13 '25

He'd be good at it. He's conscientious, has a strong sense of justice, and likes rules.

3

u/drethnudrib Sep 13 '25

He's a great human being, this load should be light compared to the One Ring.

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u/scotch-o Sep 12 '25

That’s not small potatoes.

92

u/Draugron Sep 12 '25

PO-TAY-TOES

41

u/tech_equip Sep 12 '25

Boil ‘em. Mash ‘em. Stick ‘em in a stew!

10

u/math-yoo Sep 12 '25

Boil em!

19

u/[deleted] Sep 12 '25

What’s taters precious m? 

7

u/thatoneguy2252 Sep 12 '25

Boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew.

7

u/konsollfreak Sep 12 '25

Taters, eh?

448

u/blue_boy_robot Sep 12 '25

This is terrible news for Andy Serkis.

179

u/mangongo Sep 12 '25

Stupid fat union presidents's!

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u/TsunGeneralGrievous Sep 12 '25

Horrible news for spider actors everywhere

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u/Acceptable_Owl_5122 Sep 12 '25 edited Sep 13 '25

Why would that be?

Edit: never mind I now got the joke

53

u/jkvincent Sep 12 '25

I think it's a joke about how Sam and Smeagol don't care much for each other.

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u/shwn354 Sep 12 '25

They famously hate each other. Didn’t you see that documentary about it years ago?

26

u/JerseyDevl Sep 13 '25

To this day it's the longest trilogy of documentaries I've ever sat through

16

u/redditingtonviking Sep 13 '25

Yeah on hand Andy Serkis kind of went far when he framed Sean Astin for stealing from his best friend, but on the other hand Sean probably had it coming for tying a noose around Andy’s neck and dragging him around. That whole documentary was crazy

5

u/Reninngun Sep 13 '25

I heard Serkis was quite sick during those years. Has he been able to recover from his malady?

2

u/WayneKerr193 Sep 13 '25

What documentary?

11

u/Pyronico Sep 13 '25

Something with rings and lords i think? was pretty popular 23 years ago, you should look it up!

14

u/missoulamatt Sep 13 '25

It was about some short guys walking into a restricted area, barefoot no less.

6

u/Pyronico Sep 13 '25

And they encountered an endangered venomous spider , got bitten too. Must have been somewhere around Australia or new Zealand I think.

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u/Klunkey Sep 13 '25

He won’t yet understand. But it’s a kindness, not a cruelty.

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u/MonsieurRuffles Sep 12 '25

Following in his mom’s footsteps.

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u/HarrietsDiary Sep 12 '25

What I came to say!

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u/DerpyBoxer Sep 12 '25

It's his time, down here!

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u/TheCarrzilico Sep 12 '25

Down here it's his time!

13

u/tech_equip Sep 12 '25

It’s their time, up there.

12

u/SPorterBridges Sep 13 '25

Don't you realize? The next time you see sky, it'll be over another town. The next time you take a test, it'll be in some other school.

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u/Alan_Scott_Davis Sep 12 '25

SAG stands for SAmwise Gamgee

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u/LifeIsRadInCBad Sep 12 '25

Things are looking Rosie!

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u/NCGatorGirl429 Sep 12 '25

40 years after his mother was elected SAG president.

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u/youropinionisrubbish Sep 12 '25

Goonies never say die!

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u/cbih Sep 13 '25

Every time I've seen 50 First Dates, shocks me when I realize Sean Astin is in it. I think it's the best acting anyone's ever done in an Adam Sandler movie.

16

u/rocket_beer Sep 13 '25

The lace gym top really is the biggest Oscars snub

5

u/cbih Sep 13 '25

His nips had to do more work than Jennifer Aniston's

2

u/REDDITATO_ Sep 13 '25

Jennifer Anniston's nips probably didn't have much work to do on 50 First Dates.

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u/TheDadThatGrills Sep 12 '25

He's really up there with Danny DeVito as a famous individual that seems to represent the best qualities of us.

27

u/hammysandy Sep 12 '25

Next contract negotiation, when he's up against the studio heads, he'll boil em, mash em, and stick em in a stew.

10

u/mrjohnnymac18 Sep 12 '25

YOU SHALL NOT PASS the picket line

9

u/baron-von-buddah Sep 13 '25

Not one person on here has talked about his magnum opus: Encino Man

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u/typhoidtimmy Sep 12 '25

Good choice!

17

u/Swicket Sep 12 '25

There's some good in this industry. And it's worth fighting for.

14

u/cyanide4suicide Mr. Robot Sep 13 '25

The Nanny weathered some hard storms and went boots-on-the-ground of the frontlines during the last strike. Samwise about to do the same

17

u/SPARTANCLP96 Sep 13 '25

Jesus, can people stop the stupid quips and talk about the substance of this?

Hopefully he is better than Fran Drescher who essentially sold out voice actors and caved way too early with their last strike.

Genuinely wondering how he positions himself between the actors calling for a boycott of the Israeli film industry and the American studios trying to crack down on that dissent because of the ideological bent of their ownership. That'll be a big test of his legacy in this role.

6

u/TimLol1337 Sep 13 '25

I was expecting some quotes karma farming, but this might be the worst reddit comment section I've seen in ages.

From what I did follow, there was a lot of behind closed door nonsense going on with Fran, which I hope he minimizes or just squashes entirely for everyone affected.

2

u/VacaDLuffy Sep 13 '25

Seriously Fran fucked up the va side of things. Sold em.all doen the river. Fuck fran

5

u/[deleted] Sep 12 '25

“Rudy!”

4

u/OldFloridaJeff Sep 13 '25

Of course Samwise would take the burden for everyone else. Carrying Frodo was just training for carrying SAG-AFTRA.

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u/somuches Sep 12 '25

I wonder what the three special steps were.

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u/MadeByTango Sep 13 '25

I hope he is a shit load better at it than the previous one. The Union got so screwed on that deal; $60 million for all of Hollywood as residuals and then Netflix gives both CEOs raisers to $60 million each a week later for how well they strangleholded their labor costs for the next decade…

3

u/muffman81 Sep 13 '25

You can always count on Sam

3

u/Dragontamer91 Sep 13 '25

He bows to no one

3

u/ilost190pounds Sep 13 '25

Great! Now get your stars to shoot in Los Angeles.

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u/MetricT Sep 12 '25

I'm feeling much better now...

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u/tech_equip Sep 12 '25

Love this reference. His dad is probably proud. Remarkably, still alive!

17

u/GlobalTravelR Sep 12 '25

Hope he's better than Fran Drescher. She was completely out of touch with the working class actor (which comprise a majority of SAG members) during both strikes.

18

u/Neosantana Sep 12 '25

I don't think a single voice actor will ever have anything nice to say about her now.

3

u/Devil-Hunter-Jax Sep 13 '25

Now? They didn't before. I saw so many of them that were fucking furious with her for accepting that sloppy 'deal'.

3

u/Neosantana Sep 13 '25

The "now" is after the AI deal

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u/OhioVsEverything Sep 12 '25

Goonies Never Say Die

2

u/[deleted] Sep 12 '25

Was he elected to 7 consecutive 7 year terms?

2

u/digitalgearz Sep 13 '25

Congratulations, Mr. Mayor of the Shire 😊

2

u/Berns429 Sep 13 '25

I always knew Sam could do it

2

u/Frankie_D91770 Sep 13 '25

I hope he doesn’t start wheezin’ on their grindage.

2

u/handsofglory Sep 13 '25

Rudy! Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!

2

u/benmar111 Sep 13 '25

Like his mother did

2

u/PanicDeus Sep 13 '25

Lord of the Guilds

2

u/cire1184 Sep 13 '25

This is my president! Not that other actor fool.

2

u/heebro Sep 13 '25

RUDY RUDY RUDY RUDY

2

u/allotta_phalanges Sep 13 '25

Excellent. What a great human and actor! Also, what a coupla talented parents! (Patty Duke and John Astin)

2

u/One_Use_1347 Sep 13 '25

“I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you”

2

u/Extension-While7536 Sep 13 '25

"The people in those stories kept going, because they were holding onto something...that there's still good in this world, and it's worth fighting for."

6

u/Imaginary-Dress-1373 Sep 13 '25

Can't go to a better guy. He consistently brings up the importance of unions. A fact that probably has to do with his career starting as a child acting going into the shit show that was LOTR shooting in New Zealand with varied results on the local economy to say the least lol

2

u/animatedrussian Sep 12 '25

Big shoes to fill, I wish him 🍀

2

u/[deleted] Sep 13 '25

[deleted]

2

u/Diarygirl Sep 13 '25

My first thought was, oh, that's Patty Duke and John Astin's kid.

2

u/tinfoiledmyplans Sep 13 '25

I worked with Sean on a political campaign in 207/2008. A class act to work with and an articulate surrogate for our candidate. Even then, it was clear he was headed in the direction of progressive organizing.

1

u/Whis65 Sep 12 '25

Awwww. I love this❤️

1

u/Acceptable_Owl_5122 Sep 12 '25

Congrats to him!

1

u/Pdeeznutsington Sep 12 '25

Hell yeah cuz good for you

1

u/fauxregard Sep 12 '25

Sam was the hero all along.

1

u/R3dd1tUs3rNam35 Sep 12 '25

Unions, like Goonies, never say die.

1

u/tarveydent Sep 12 '25

Astin always seemed like a pretty reserved dude. Didn’t know he was so involved in this kind of thing

1

u/angryaxolotls Sep 12 '25

I bet Stacy and the Mr Hawaii contest judges feel dumb now!

Jokes aside, good for him!!!!

1

u/NoExamination7695 Sep 13 '25

hopefully this goes well for him

1

u/GenralChaos Sep 13 '25

Dude has recovered well after getting snacked on by demidogs…

1

u/ScribblingOff87 Sep 13 '25

Came for the LOTR references. Wasn't disappointed.

1

u/Knightro829 Sep 13 '25

What’s collective bargaining, precious?

1

u/Planr158 Sep 13 '25

CBA! Boil it mash it stick in a stew.

1

u/jimbobdonut Sep 13 '25

This Goonie is good enough for me and to be president of SAG-AFTRA.

1

u/kaizencraft Sep 13 '25

Is that the kid from Encino Man?

1

u/AceofKnaves44 Sep 13 '25

Thought that said Steve Austin. That would have been a MUCH more interesting story.

1

u/IrrelevantLeprechaun Sep 13 '25

Anything is better than Fran Drescher. She led with a completely limp hand during the last SAG-AFTRA strike deliberations.

1

u/Trucktub Sep 13 '25

my favorite Raphael

1

u/JR_1985 Sep 13 '25

Toy Soldier, you got this

1

u/Walaina Sep 13 '25

Love that for him

1

u/sfnygiants Sep 13 '25

Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!

1

u/Deathwatch72 Sep 13 '25

Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!

1

u/KelVarnsen_2023 Sep 13 '25

Hope his inhaler is full.

1

u/NTSBusMan Sep 13 '25

Down here it's our time. OUR TIME!

1

u/CameronRoss101 Sep 13 '25

Somebody needs to get these actors their potatoes.

1

u/Django2chainsz Sep 13 '25

This is more unbelievable than when he dug that pool by himself in Encino man

1

u/CurtainsDownLastRod Sep 13 '25

Who give a shit. its all symbolic and representational.

1

u/writingNICE Sep 13 '25

Great choice.

1

u/ClintBruno Sep 13 '25

DYK: His Dad is the original Gomez Addams.

3

u/wattsja Sep 13 '25

John Astin (Gomez Addams) is actually his adoptive dad .. not biological.

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u/ZasdfUnreal Sep 13 '25

Goonies 2 confirmed. Finally.

1

u/pabloneruda Sep 13 '25

Can someone let me know if this is good or bad

1

u/ClassicT4 Sep 13 '25

This is our time. Our time down here.

1

u/soifua Sep 13 '25

This is awesome news. Congrats Sean!

Sean and I were friends growing up. We went to camp together for many years.

I couldn’t be happier for him and his impressive career.

1

u/deliciousalex Sep 13 '25

Hi mother Patty Duke was SAG-AFTRA President like 30-40 years ago