‘This Is Us’: Stars & Fans React to Rebecca’s Emotional Farewell

Justin Hartley as Kevin, Sterling K. Brown as Randall, Mandy Moore as Rebecca in This Is Us
Ron Batzdorff/NBC

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 6, Episode 17 of This Is Us, “The Train.”]

Viewers said farewell to Mandy Moore‘s Rebecca Pearson on the Tuesday, May 17, penultimate episode of NBC drama This Is Us, and emotions were certainly running high.

The episode focused on Rebecca’s final moments as friends and family gathered around her hospital bed to say goodbye. This included Beth Pearson (Susan Kelechi Watson), Toby Damon (Chris Sullivan); fan favorites William (Ron Cephas Jones) and Dr. Nathan “K” Katowsky (Gerald McRaney) also made special appearances.

With her three children by her side, Rebecca passed into the afterlife, where she was reunited with her late husband, Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia). This heartbreaking goodbye had tears flowing, both on-screen and off, with fans taking to social media to share their reactions.

“This episode is giving me chills and bringing me to tears like no other episode ever has. Heartbreakingly beautiful. This show is phenomenal beyond words,” wrote one viewer.

“The writers of #ThisIsUs deserve every accolade for such a beautifully written episode. Transition is hard but they honored the life of Rebecca in such a beautiful way. And showed how the Pearson legacy lives on. Real tears,” added another fan.

Moore, who previously said she threw up when reading the episode’s script, also commented on her character’s final moments. Tweeting a photo of herself and co-star Ventimiglia, she wrote, “’If something makes you sad when it ends, it must have been pretty wonderful when it was happening’”… and with that, one last car. The caboose.”

Many fans demanded that Moore be awarded an Emmy for her incredible performance. “Give mandy moore the emmy right NOW,” tweeted one viewer, a sentiment echoed by many others, including This Is Us producer/director Ken Olin, who wrote, “Mandy Moore deserves an Emmy Award. Trust me.”

“I’m reading all the crazy beautiful things being said from the east coast about #ThisIsUs & tonight’s episode,” Olin added. “I can’t tell you how much it means to me. I’m broken up. Thank you so much. We poured our heart into this. I’m blown away.”

The show’s creator, Dan Fogleman, also shared his thoughts, writing, “Well here we go. With a massive assist from our writing staff and a giant idea from @KJSteinberg2, I poured a lot of myself into these last two. And then @kenolin1 fixed all my mistakes. I hope it speaks to you. Thanks for watching. This one is for my mom.”

Check out more reaction below.

This Is Us, Series Finale, Tuesday, May 24, 9/8c, NBC