Anyone who ever wanted to see a version of Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey that was told mainly from the perspective of the pets’ human owners is in for a real treat today. From the director of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Steve Herek, and Emmy nominee Nick Santora, Dog Gone — which is now available to stream with a Netflix subscription — tells the emotional and inspirational true story of a father and son’s journey to find their missing pet.
The film — potentially destined to be dog lovers’ favorite Netflix movie released in 2023 — stars Rob Lowe as the father of the story who his given the chance to repair his uneasy relationship with his collegiate son, played by Johnny Berchtold, by helping him bring his furry best friend, Gonker, home. Take a look at who else makes up the Dog Gone cast and where else you may know them from in our breakdown below.
Rob Lowe (John Marshall)
Leading the Dog Gone cast as John Marshall is Rob Lowe, whose previous work with Netflix includes a romantic Christmas movie called Holiday in the Wild and hosting the fun and revealing documentary special, Attack of the Hollywood Cliches. He became one of the biggest stars of the ‘80s with his film debut in The Outsiders, which led to roles in more classic ‘80s flicks like St. Elmo’s Fire and plenty of cinematic favorites of the ‘90s like Tommy Boy, for one.
That same decade, Lowe launched his eclectic and storied television career that includes an Emmy nomination for his tenure in NBC’s The West Wing cast, reviving his funny bone and pumping up his charisma to play Chris Traeger in the Parks and Recreation cast, hosting a game show for a brief moment called Mental Samurai, and even hunting ghosts with his family on the on the paranormal investigation reality series, The Lowe Files. I have barely scratched the surface of all this multi-hyphenate is known for and could probably write a book about it, but he already has me beat there, too, as an author of three books so far.
Johnny Berchtold (Fielding Marshall)
Playing John Marshall’s son and Gonker’s desperate owner, Fielding, is Johnny Berchtold. Before being cast in Dog Gone, his most notable feature-length credits were coming-of-age sci-fi film A Hard Problem and spiritual drama The Forbidden Wish — both of which came out in 2021.
The bulk of Berchtold’s resume up to now consists mostly of short films and TV series, such as when he played the Unabomber as a teen on the first season of Manhunt for the Discovery Channel or The Barnacle King on 14 episodes of the family fantasy series Life as a Mermaid. More recently, he appeared in one episode of Amazon Prime’s survivalist drama The Wilds and starred alongside Julia Roberts and other A-listers on the fact-based political miniseries, Gaslit, on Starz.
Kimberly Williams-Paisley (Ginny Marshall)
Playing John’s wife and Fielding’s mother, Ginny Marshall, is Rob Lowe’s The Christmas Shoes co-star, Kimberly Williams-Paisley. The actor and wife of country music star Brad Paisley’s previous work with Netflix includes Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings (an anthology series based on the country legend’s hits), 2017’s You Get Me, and both The Christmas Chronicles movies, alongside Kurt Russell as one of cinema’s coolest Santas.
Williams-Paisley’s best known roles to date are the titular bride of one of the best Steve Martin movies, Father of the Bride, and its 1995 sequel, and Dana on long-running sitcom, According to Jim. She also had a recurring role on Nashville, appeared on two episodes of The Flash, and starred in the 2007 high school sports biopic, We Are Marshall.
Nick Peine (Nate)
As Fielding’s human best friend, Nate, we have Nick Peine who — like Johnny Berchtold — has landed his biggest role in a film to date with Dog Gone. His previous feature-length credits include small parts in the 2016 party movie favorite, Office Christmas Party, 2017’s Emma Watson and Tom Hanks-led technophobic thriller, The Circle, star-studded crime comedy Just Getting Started, and A Typical Wednesday in 2020.
Peine is best known from the A.P. Bio cast as Marcus, which was his first starring role on a TV series. Before then, he made guest appearances alongside the Shameless cast, on the short-live Son of Zorn, and Fresh off the Boat, to name a few.
Savannah Bruffey (Peyton Marshall)
Making her feature-length film debut in the Dog Gone cast as Fielding’s sister, Peyton Marshall, is Savannah Bruffey. In fact, the Netflix original film is only the second screen acting credit on the young actor’s resume — the first being a short film called /b/ from 2014.
Susan Gallagher (Mrs. Goodwin)
Another Dog Gone cast member with previous experience starring in Netflix original titles is Susan Gallagher, who plays Mrs. Goodwin. The actor made a guest appearance on an episode of the Emmy-winning crime drama Bloodline in 2017 and, later, appeared alongside the Cobra Kai cast in six episodes as Lynn.
Some of Gallagher’s other most notable TV guest star gigs include episodes of House, Everybody Hates Chris, co-creator Lee Daniels’ Star, Disney+’s Marvel TV show Loki, and co-creator Ava DuVernay’s DC TV show, Naomi. Her feature-length appearances include an uncredited role opposite Burt Reynolds in 1993’s Cop & 1/2, the 2019 sequel to How High, and 2021’s Black Easter, in which scientists try to prevent a time-traveling extremist group from assassinating Jesus.
Brian Brightman (Ginny’s Dad)
Playing Ginny’s father is Brian Brightman, who actually has a few things in common with his aforementioned Dog Gone co-star, Susan Gallagher (WandaVision). He made a guest appearance on Bloodline, was also in an episode of a Marvel TV show (WandaVision), and was in five episode of Naomi as Commander Steel.
Brightman also has previous experience with Netflix from playing an M.P. Guard on the second season of Stranger Things and has played law enforcement officials in several other titles like Homeland and the acclaimed 2018 film The Hate U Give. He also appeared in director Clint Eastwood’s biographical drama, Richard Jewell, in 2019 and will soon appear on ABC’s new crime dramedy, Will Trent, in a future episode.
Holly Morris (Ginny’s Mom)
Playing Ginny’s mother is Holly Morris, who has a few things in common with a few of her Dog Gone co-stars. Like Brian Brightman, she appeared on Stranger Things and in a DC TV show (Stargirl), and, like Kimberly Williams-Paisley, she had a recurring role on Nashville.
Morris — whose one other previous Netflix original credit is director Ron Howard’s Hillbilly Elegy — made guest appearances on shows like Drop Dead Diva and Devious Maids before making her major motion picture debut in Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk from director Ang Lee before appearing alongside Jamie Foxx in Sleepless in 2017. Some of her more recent credits include the sports drama Overcomer and two episodes of The CW’s Dynasty reboot.
Of course, the real star of this film is the Labrador retriever who plays Gonker, whose real name has not been revealed to the public. See him in the action, along with his human co-stars in the Dog Gone cast, by streaming the film on Netflix now.
