At this year’s PaleyFest, the cast and some of the crew of NBC’s hit This Is Us gathered to talk about the show’s successful season and also looked ahead to season two.
One of the biggest questions on people’s minds at the panel is the mystery surrounding Jack’s (Milo Ventimiglia) death. Viewers know that Jack dies, they just don’t know how he dies.
At the panel for the show, it was revealed that the cast already knows how Jack dies, and, according to Entertainment Weekly, they started debunking some of the fan theories that are out floating around the internet, including Kate (Chrissy Metz) accidentally killing him and Miguel (John Huertas) being involved in Jack’s death.
Meanwhile, Ventimiglia revealed where he got the inspiration for his character from. “Here we go. This is the time I cry: my father,” Ventimiglia said. “I saw that in my own father and there’s not a moment in my life that I don’t think about how he raised us, my sisters and I, and what he gave me just as a man.”
When the writers start writing for the second season in June, executive producer and director Glenn Ficcara said there might be a chance for each of the characters to have their own episode, similar to the episode where Randall and William went to Memphis or the finale, which looked at Jack and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) when they first met.
“The great thing about the show is it’s kinda like this spider web where we’re able to go off in all directions and delve deep into people. We got to see Jack from a certain perspective this season, and I think we might get him from another perspective in other characters (next season),” Ficcara said.
John Requa, another one of the executive producers and directors, chimed in, saying “There are a bunch of episodes that end in emotion. A couple surprises.”
Brown, Metz and Justin Hartley (Kevin) also previewed where they think their characters are going to be when the show returns for its second season.
Brown talked about his revelation in the final moments of the season finale, where he told Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) he wanted to adopt a baby. Brown said “it’s clearly the beginning of a conversation” while Watson said “I think Beth is at a stage where she wants to do other things and maybe not start again with having a child, a baby.”
Hartley talked about the state of his blossoming relationship with ex-wife Sophie. In the finale, Kevin got in a car, presumably to take the meeting with Ron Howard for a role in a movie. Hartley talked about the similarities to the last time Kevin went to Los Angeles, which ultimately caused the breakdown in marriage and how Hartley is rooting for his character to “get the girl and the movie.”
As for Kate, Metz talked about her character’s decision to start moving forward in her singing and requested that she get a chance to sing with her on-screen mom, to which Moore quickly agreed with. “I will slap on those prosthetics in two seconds. Anything to sing with you, Chrissy,” Moore said.
The finale of This Is Us brought in the highest rated and most watched episode to date. The show garnered a 3.4 rating in the 18 to 49 demographic and was watched by a total of 12.84 million viewers, according to TV by the Numbers.