Kelly tells PEOPLE how her boyfriend’s cameo on the Netflix series came about as she gives a rare look into their happy life together

It’s easy to love Dan Reynolds, or at least that’s how Minka Kelly feels.

The actress, 44, stars in a brand-new Netflix Western series, Ransom Canyon, with Josh Duhamel, and in the series’ penultimate episode, her real-life boyfriend makes a cameo, the result of what she tells PEOPLE is simply his natural charm.

“He came to visit and everyone, all the producers and writers, just naturally fell in love with him, like you do,” Kelly says. “It’s easy to love Dan.”

Duhamel agrees. “He’s a good dude,” the actor, who starred alongside Reynolds, 37, in the scene, along with Eoin Macken, who plays Davis, says. “He did a great job, he really did.”

Eoin Macken, Dan Reynolds and Josh Duhamel in “Ransom Canyon”.Netflix

Kelly wasn’t expecting the visit to result in a cameo for her boyfriend, who she’s been linked to since 2022, but that’s how it unfolded.

“They just asked one day, ‘Do you think he’d play this character?’ And I just was like, ‘Let me ask him,'” she recalls. “And he was such a good sport and down to play.”

The Imagine Dragons frontman was “surprisingly nervous,” though, Kelly says, which she didn’t expect. “I’m like, how could you be nervous? With what you do? I guess it’s just a different environment.”

“It’s hard to walk into another environment,” Duhamel, 52, says, jumping in. “Because you’re outside of [the cameras] watching, and then you have to step into it. It’s a scary thing.”

“He’s an amazingly talented dude on many different fronts, but it takes one or two or three, maybe a couple scenes, and all those nerves go away,” Duhamel adds.

Minka Kelly and Dan Reynolds in Los Angeles.SPOT-Stoianov / BACKGRID

If the series — which sees Duhamel and Kelly play longtime friends, Staten and Quinn, who have an unexplored romantic spark — gets a season 2, Duhamel teases of Reynolds, “Maybe we’ll have him back.”

Kelly and Reynolds tend to keep their relationship out of the public eye, but last July, the singer told PEOPLE that they met through a mutual friend and were talking on the phone for weeks before meeting in person.

“After about a month, we met in person, and ever since then, we’ve been attached at the hip,” Reynolds said. “Minka and I are in a really happy, healthy relationship.”

Dan Reynolds and Minka Kelly attend a “Gladiator II” Special Screening, Q&A and Reception on October 18, 2024, in Los Angeles, California.Phillip Faraone/Getty

He also revealed that the Friday Night Lights actress has won over his four kids, whom he shares with his ex-wife Aja Volkman, as he revealed they “really love Minka.”

“We view it as kind of bonuses to the family: more people to love, more people to help. We’ve just been really careful with that and slow with navigating how to bring Minka into that conversation,” he said. “She’s done a really incredible job of being sensitive and careful on her end as well.”

Ransom Canyon is now streaming on Netflix.