Smoke’s Jurnee Smollett Reveals Gift Taron Egerton Gave Her Son (Exclusive)

Jurnee Smollett’s son has some fans of his own!

While she was playing a marine-turned-arson investigator in the new AppleTV+ series Smoke, the actress’ 8-year-old son Hunter was making friends. By the end of filming, Smollett tells PEOPLE that her son developed a special connection with one of her costars in particular: Taron Egerton. 

“Taron couldn’t be more different than his character and is just a lovely human being and kind and a generous team partner and buddies with Hunter, my son,” she gushes. “He got Hunter the cutest wrap gift. He got Hunter a hockey jersey, because Hunter loves anything sports, and we were shooting in Vancouver. He fell in love with the Vancouver Canucks.”

Smollett says she also grew close to Greg Kinnear (she jokes he is “now my travel agent” because he wants her to take more vacations), John Leguizamo and the show’s creator, Dennis Lehane.

“I love those guys, man,” she admits, adding, “I mean, it really was a beautiful environment.”

Being on set was nothing new for Hunter, who feels right at home when Smollett brings him with her to work.

“He loves it,” she reveals. “I was just recording something yesterday, and he was with me. And he was just hanging out and everyone was so impressed that he was able to be quiet, and he said to them, ‘I grew up on sets.’ And it’s true.”

“He’s now at an age where he’s able to watch the monitor — if the scene is appropriate, obviously,” the Lovecraft Country alum continues. “And he’ll be asking the writers, ‘Well, what happens in episode three? Well, okay, but then what happens?’ And sometimes he comes home with things that are happening or places they plan to take the character that I don’t even know about.”

In addition to his interest being behind-the-scenes, Smollett says Hunter has recently started wanting to appear in front of the camera.

She attributes this to his overall fascination with “the magic of cinema.”

“He keeps asking to be thrown into it, so, sometimes the directors, they’ll just throw him in the background, and I’m like, “What is my son doing?’” Smollett laughs.

Smollett admits she isn’t entirely opposed to Hunter following in her footsteps.

Once a child actor herself — she booked her first commercial at just 10 months old and won a Critics’ Choice Award at age 11 — the Full House alum doesn’t want to limit Hunter by pushing him into an acting career.

“I get asked this question a lot,” she explains. “I don’t know that I would let him audition when he was young or do the whole hustle. I think I’d encourage him to study it, take classes and workshops and stuff like that. But my goal is to expose him to as many different fields and see what sticks.”

“He plays basketball and baseball, loves sports,” she says. “He’s excelling at math. I mean, he can do math way higher than his grade level and loves science. So, he’s always making science experiments around the house with some baking soda and vinegar and different ingredients. And so, I’m really trying to just expose him to different professions and see what sticks.”

“I think it’s natural if he’s around Mommy telling stories that there’s a good chance he’ll want to go into it, but I also want him to have options,” she adds.

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Smoke is now streaming on Apple TV+ with new episodes dropping weekly on Fridays.