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On the heels of This Is Us‘ sixth and final season premiere, fans appeared to be left with more questions than answers when it came to the future of the Pearson family. Several ongoing storylines were lightly touched upon, while others appeared to have their origins. However, viewers should continue to stay the course, said series creator Dan Fogelman. He teased This Is Us‘ final season is the “completion of a lot of journeys.”

The cast of NBC's "This Is Us."
The cast of NBC’s ‘This Is Us’

‘The Challenger’ premiere showed what makes the Big Three Tick

This passage contains spoilers from the first episode of season 6 of This Is Us titled “The Challenger.”

The episode titled “The Challenger” took its name from a pivotal moment in the youth of the Big Three, Randall (Sterling K. Brown), Kate (Chrissy Metz), and Kevin (Justin Hartley). It revealed that many characteristics from their youth continue to haunt them into adulthood.

In 1986, The Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard, including one teacher named Christa McAuliffe.

The Pearson children were deeply affected by the disaster but in different ways.

Randall was concerned for McAuliffe’s children, showing his philanthropic tendencies from a young age. Kevin internalized the situation, believing the entire incident was fake. However, later, he admitted his deep fears regarding his parents’ eventual death to his sister. Kate blended realism and her hope for peace. She said it was good the astronauts were high up because they were “closer to heaven” upon implosion.

‘This Is Us’ creator Dan Fogelman teases the show’s final season is a ‘completion of a lot of journeys’

Sterling K. Brown, Chrissy Metz and Justin Hartley
Sterling K. Brown, Chrissy Metz, and Justin Hartley | Joe Pugliese/NBC

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman teased several key tidbits for viewers heading into the NBC series final season.

The showrunner claimed that although the show spans a lot of time, there will be plenty of opportunities to learn even more about the members of the Pearson family.

“The show spans a lot of time and, especially where we’re going deeper into our final season, you’re going to see the completion of a lot of journeys,” he explained.

“Whether that means life and death or romantically. Because we spend more time than just existing linearly, we’ll hopefully be able to complete all of our stories and journeys, however long that takes in the calendar time in the show. But in terms of who is going to live or die, I can’t say that part,” Fogelman revealed.

‘This Is Us’ will have one final trilogy featuring The Big Three

Chrissy Metz, Sterling K. Brown and Justin Hartley
Chrissy Metz, Sterling K. Brown, and Justin Hartley Kevin Pearson | Jeff Lipsky/NBC
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Fogelman teased that currently, the series is working on a trilogy of episodes featuring The Big Three, Kevin, Kate, and Randall.

These interconnected episodes will delve deeper into the characters.

“Those are our eighth, ninth, and tenth episodes that are in the process of being filmed right now. So, we haven’t filmed the finale, but there is stuff that we’ve filmed previously, as we’ve spoken about, that has been banked for later in the series,” Fogelman concluded.

This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. EST on NBC.

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