‘This Is Us’ Cast, Creator Hint at ‘Closure’ for the Pearsons in Season 6
Finale
This Is Us creator and executive producer Dan Fogelman, and two of the NBC drama’s leading ladies — Mandy Moore (Rebecca Pearson) and Chrissy Metz (Kate Pearson) — shared some series intel during a “For Your Consideration” Emmys panel earlier this week at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
First came a screening of the shocking finale in which — Spoiler Alert — Kevin (Justin Hartley) and Madison (Caitlin Thompson) called off their wedding; meanwhile, in a time-jump, we learned that Kate is apparently going to marry her boss, Phillip (Chris Geere)!
Fogelman, Moore, and Metz shared their thoughts on the past season and the climactic episode and teased how their characters will head into the show’s sixth and final (sob!) season.
The rest of the show’s stellar top cast — Hartley, Emmy-winner Sterling K. Brown (Randall Pearson), Susan Kelechi-Watson (Beth Pearson), and Chris Sullivan (Toby Damon) — alas, weren’t present at the panel. However, they all appeared via video to weigh in with their thoughts on what’s ahead for their characters, and what to expect when This Is Us returns for its final season.
Chris Haston/NBC
On how they’ll “show up” in the final season
Sterling K. Brown: “Moving into Season 6, I hope [Randall] is able to find closure. I think that he’s on the journey to finding closure with regards to self-acceptance, his place in the world, knowing unequivocally that he is of value and not having to prove it to anyone. Not having to prove it to himself but [having] a deep abiding knowledge that he belongs and is loved. Closure. I think that’s what I’m looking for for Randall.”
(Credit: NBC)
Justin Hartley: “I would say there will be a lot of reconnections. How about that? A lot of reconnections.”
Susan Kelechi-Watson: “One sentence to sum up my character for next season would be: ‘I’m not truly dead. Comma. I’m still here with you. Colon. And I will always be here with you. Period.”
Chris Sullivan: “One word for Toby next season is ‘transformational.’”
(Frank Micelotta/20th Television/PictureGroup)
Chrissy Metz: “A lot of what Sterling said is very similar to what Kate is going through but in a very, very different way. I think she has found confidence in a way that she never has before. [Getting there] wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t linear. It still won’t be. But I think that it would be that true happiness [is coming], I think. I think. You’ve got to ask Dan, but that’s what I think.”
Mandy Moore: “I hope that Rebecca has the ability to have grace for herself and her loved ones and have a truly profound perspective on her life and her legacy. And I hope she’s able to be as present as possible given the circumstances.”
On if we’ll see Sophie (Alexandra Breckenridge) again or will the “Jerry Maguire and Madison of it all” win out
Dan Fogelman: “I can’t tell you that! [But] if you’re talking about what you want to see for Kevin, I think we’d like to see our lovable, charming, larger-than-life guy find centered happiness — and find, if not love, find something in his romantic journey that feels complete and full. As the person who writes him, that’s what I’m rooting for for him.
Alexandra Breckenridge as Sophie, Justin Hartley as Kevin (Ron Batzdorff/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
“That doesn’t necessarily mean everyone winds up married, and not everybody winds up with somebody you expect [them to]. Certainly, whatever choice we make, there’s going to be people who wish it would be someone else. Hopefully, all people who root for the character will be satisfied for what it brings for Kevin.”
On if there will be closure
Dan Fogelman: “Yes. We’ve got to end the series. We’re going to have closure.”
Dan Fogelman (Photo by Frank Micelotta/20th Television/PictureGroup)
On how to describe Season 6
Dan Fogelman: “We’re going to try to make something really beautiful and something that leaves people feeling full and warm, and if they cry it’s not just because of sadness, it’s because of the melancholy beauty that fills our lives. Make something that makes people want to go out and have babies or call their parents or their siblings. That’s how we always intended to end the show. I have scenes and settings and lines and moments and endings that I’ve always had in my brain. We’re going to try to pull off something really lovely.”
