‘This Is Us’: Dan Fogelman Reveals How the Series Will End and It’s So Simple, It’s Downright Shocking
The Pearson family captivated the nation when This Is Us made its debut in September 2016. From heart-stopping plot twists to stunning characterization, the NBC drama has everything it takes to continue on forever. That is until the ratings tell them otherwise. But here’s the thing — the This Is Us crew has no intention of overstaying their welcome. And as it turns out, the show already has a series finale in mind. So how will This Is Us end? Creator Dan Fogelman recently revealed how he imagines the Pearson family will close their final chapter.
How long will ‘This Is Us’ go on until the series finale?
In May 2019, NBC renewed This Is Us through season 6, each containing 18 episodes. That said, the series may not end with the sixth season.
“We’re keeping it open for now,” NBC co-chairman, Paul Telegdy, said at the time. “Creator Dan Fogelman has a plan for the show, for now it’s being picked up for three more seasons.”
Meanwhile, in an interview with The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Milo Ventimiglia — who plays Jack on This Is Us — shared that while it’s possible to extend the show past the sixth season, the writers still want to end it on their terms.
“We never know where we’re going to go. The show could have a huge spike in season 6 and everybody wants more beyond that,” he said. “But I think, creatively, they have an idea of what they’d like to do to wrap it up in this nice story. So at least the audience knows they’re going to get three more seasons. But beyond that, I don’t know.”
Then when speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Fogelman explained what the This Is Us team has planned.
“We’re roughly in the middle of where the television series is going to go,” the creator said after the season 3 finale. “We never set out to make a television series that was going to last 18 seasons. So we have a very direct plan. I have script pages I have written and I’m writing that really are deep, deep, deep into the future. We have a plan for what we’re going to do, and I know what the plan is.”
Dan Fogelman explains how ‘This Is Us’ will end
Given the time jumps and the projected plan created by the This Is Us team, it’s no surprise everyone who is deeply involved knows how the Pearson story ends. Back in July 2018, Mandy Moore — who portrays Rebecca — stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live. The actress revealed the cast knows what happens in the series finale, teasing the end will be “very satisfying.”
“I think it’s very true to what the show evokes from all of us. Dan’s a master at that,” she said. “People will feel their feelings.”
Then when speaking with The Los Angeles Times in January 2020, Fogelman revealed his vision of the This Is Us ending.
“We’ve always known the plan for the show because we’re not going 15 seasons,” he said. “If you know where you’re going, you’re just playing with time. It feels like a page-turner because we’re telling the story about a family over the course of 80 years by the time we’re done. And so all of our families could seem really interesting in that way.”
He continued: “No, we don’t all have a fire in our house. But we’ve all lost parents, experienced the birth of children, had divorces, wound up with people we didn’t expect. And if you told that whole story broken into different chapters and mixed up all the pieces, it would have made your family’s stories seem like a mystery. That’s all we’ve done here. It’s not like we’re telling a murder mystery.”
But despite all the wild twists and drama along the way, the creator confirmed the Pearson family storyline will end quietly — just how it is in real life.
“I think by the time we’re in our sixth season, you’ll have a lot of the information about what’s happened to this family and what will be left is some resolution,” Fogelman said. “I think when the show eventually comes to an end, I think in the best way, it’ll be very quiet and normal. That’s always been the plan, because at the end of the day, it’s a story about this kind of regular family.”
Read more: ‘This Is Us’: This Kate and Marc Theory Will Have You Re-Watching the NBC Series for Clues
