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TL;DR:

  • Alexandra Breckenridge knew she’d return as Sophie in ‘This Is Us’ Season 6
  • Breckenridge and creator Dan Fogelman discussed Kevin and Sophie’s ending last year
  • At the time, they didn’t know if it would work because Breckenridge films ‘Virgin River’ in Vancouver
Sophie (Alexandra Breckenridge) looks on in "The Night Before the Wedding" episode of 'This Is Us' Season 6.
‘This Is Us’ Alexandra Breckinridge as Sophie | Photo by: Ron Batzdorff/NBC
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Alexandra Breckenridge returned as Sophie in “The Night Before the Wedding,” the 14th episode of This Is Us Season 6. Sophie’s return tied up a major loose end and finally answered the question of who Kevin (Justin Hartley) would end up with in the final season of the hit NBC series. In a new interview, Breckenridge opened up about Sophie and Kevin’s relationship and what she knew about plans to reunite the couple.

[Spoiler alert: This Is Us Season 6 spoilers ahead.]

Who is Sophie in ‘This Is Us’?

Need a little refresher on who Sophie is and why she matters in This Is Us? No problem!

Played by Alexandra Breckenridge, Sophie is Kevin’s ex-wife. Sophie and Kevin dated as kids before getting married when they were very young. They went separate ways for their individual careers while staying married. Kevin went to LA to pursue acting, while Sophie went to New York for college.

In a This Is Us Season 6 flashback, Kevin revealed he cheated on Sophie and they broke up after being married for a short time.

Sophie and Kevin’s relationship timeline is a little tricky because of all of the flashbacks and flashforwards in the series, but it appears they went about 12 years without seeing each other before they were reunited in This Is Us Season 1. That’s when fans got to know Sophie, but Kevin had more work to do as a person before they could truly be together again.

Kevin and Sophie’s reunion was in the works since last year, according to Breckenridge

In an interview with People, Breckenridge revealed she learned of plans for her to return for This Is Us Season 6 in 2021.

When asked by People about how long she knew about the plan for Sophie and Kevin to get back together, Breckenridge said:

“[Dan and I] had a conversation about how they wanted to end it with them [around] last year. He said, “This is what we would like to do. This is our ideal [storyline] and we have this wedding between Kate and Phillip that’s going to take place that we want to sort of jump back and forth through timelines.”

It doesn’t sound like this reunion was the best-kept secret. Sterling K. Brown revealed he knew who Kevin ended up with prior to the episode airing, as well.

Breckenridge also shared with People that she believed the characters were meant to be together.

“I mean, through the characters, the way that they built up their relationship, starting from such a young age… I don’t want to say soulmates, because I don’t know if that applies, but I think that they have this magnetic pull toward each other. And they have that kind of love at first sight thing that’s never left either of them.”

‘Virgin River’ filming could have thrown off Alexandra Breckenridge’s return in ‘This Is Us’ Season 6

Even though the plans were in place to bring Breckenridge back to set and Sophie back into Kevin’s life, there were still questions about if it would actually happen. Breckenridge stars as Mel Monroe on the wildly popular Netflix original series, Virgin River. At the time these discussions were happening in 2021, it looked like Breckenridge and the Virgin River cast could be filming in Vancouver.

“They had kind of outlined it back then, but I didn’t know if I was going to be in Vancouver shooting Virgin River,” Breckenridge told People. “It was kind of unclear if it was going to be possible. I think we were all hoping that we would be able to make it happen.”

Based on production timelines, Breckenridge is referring to Virgin River Season 5 production. Filming on Virgin River Season 4 wrapped in late 2021. According to a report from Express, Breckenridge mentioned that production on Virgin River Season 5 was supposed to start filming in March 2022, but it was delayed.

The cast and crew of This Is Us filmed these wedding episodes around that time. Had filming on Virgin River Season 5 not been delayed, there’s a chance Sophie and Kevin’s happy ending could have been very different.

It will be interesting to see where Kevin and Sophie’s relationship goes from here. Watch new episodes of This Is Us on NBC on Tuesdays! The next episode airs on Tuesday, May 3.

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