Yesterday’s episode of This Is Us set up the next three episodes. Not only did it tell us we are going to get three standalone episodes for the triplets, but we also got a preview of what is coming up for the rest of the fourth season on NBC.
We learned that Rebecca (Mandy Moore) is suffering from an unknown memory impairment. Kevin (Justin Hartley) might have met the woman he will spend the rest of his life with. Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Toby’s (Chris Sullivan) marriage is in trouble and not for what we thought is the problem. Finally, Randall (Sterling K. Brown) is suffering from some sort of mental illness.
That is a lot to handle. Over the weekend at the NBC Winter TCA Press Day, show creator Dan Fogelman and the cast talked about the past, present and future of the beloved drama. Kind of like the show that delves into all three times. Below are seven things that you did not know about TIU.
Is Dan Fogelman psychic?
DF: we’ve really tried to stick to a plan for the overall show that was there from the very beginning. I don’t think we were braced for the kind of scope of how big the show was going to get how quickly and so it wound up being a blessing that as everybody was talking about Jack’s death and how did Jack die, it was always part of the plan. Like, when I originally met with Lisa and Jen and all the people at NBC originally, I had told them that in the second season, we’re going to reveal how Jack dies around the middle of the season, and I’d love to get that Super Bowl episode. And that wasn’t because I knew the country was going to be talking about how did Jack die or anything. It was just we lucked out in a lot of ways. And so our plan has held, I’d say, for the most part. Here and there you make adjustments, and brilliant writers come along with great ideas and that adjusts timeline.
What we can expect for Randall for the rest of the season?
SKB: Fogelman and our writers came up with a storyline that I think is quite compelling, and it allows us to sort of delve into further into Randall’s mental health and how he takes care of himself. What’s right and what’s wrong about how he takes care of himself and how he could possibly do a better job at that.
And so, again, the show’s going along. It’s like oh, this is nice. It’s a nice little episode of “This Is Us.” Oh, the Pearsons. I love them so much. They mean so much to me. And then, like, this moment happens where you’re like, oh. Oh, sh!t. Like, this is about to kind of go a little sideways.
Next week starts a trilogy of episodes and it focuses on Randall. What do people who have seen the episode think of it?
DF: We’ve just sent it to the studio and the network, and it’s that kind of episode where one by one they’re all coming up to me downstairs before we came up here and they’re like, “Oh, my God.” And I’m like, “I know.” And they’re like, “Sterling.” I’m like, “I know. I know.”
Was Toby’s weight loss story always planned out or was it because Chris Sullivan lost a lot of weight in real life?
DF: it was a story we’d always been interested in. One of our writers in our room had experienced a situation where a weight loss goal was going in different speeds and different directions for somebody in a marriage or in a relationship, and the strains that can put on people and what it’s really about in terms of other things and secrecy. So that felt like an area we were always going to go to. In fact, in our initial incarnation, we had talked about making that a storyline for next season, and we moved it up to this one. But it was always a part of their story we wanted to explore, for the reasons beyond just kind of getting ripped, but also keeping secrets and different schedules and then the strains it can put on a marriage.
How did Mandy Moore prepare for his older character’s storyline?
MM: In terms of what Rebecca finds herself ailed with and what she’s sort of suffering through, of course, it’s something that I have done a lot of research on and something I’ve paid a careful amount of attention to and podcasts and books and documentaries, and I want to thoughtfully approach, you know, what Rebecca is sort of going through at this stage in her life with as much care and consideration. I can’t imagine being in that position. And I don’t want to speak too much to it, because obviously, I want people to watch the season sort of unfold and this journey that she’s on with her family. But I think it’s something we all have talked a great deal about. And I think in typical “This Is Us” fashion, we’re able to deal with issues across the board, I think, in a very graceful manner.
What has playing this role taught Chris Sullivan?
CS: In terms of what Rebecca finds herself ailed with and what she’s sort of suffering through, of course, it’s something that I have done a lot of research on and something I’ve paid a careful amount of attention to and podcasts and books and documentaries, and I want to thoughtfully approach, you know, what Rebecca is sort of going through at this stage in her life with as much care and consideration. I can’t imagine being in that position. And I don’t want to speak too much to it, because obviously, I want people to watch the season sort of unfold and this journey that she’s on with her family. But I think it’s something we all have talked a great deal about. And I think in typical “This Is Us” fashion, we’re able to deal with issues across the board, I think, in a very graceful manner.
One of the many examples of how This Is Us is making a difference.
SKB: I was in an airport after Tess came out to her family. And a family came up to us came up to me, excuse me, and said, “I was not as gracious when my daughter came out to me, but seeing you and Beth have that level of grace with your child lets me know that I can do better.” And I was, like, “God dog-git, if that’s not why you do it.” Like, it was a beautiful moment. So I just feel like the representation that we get a chance to put into America’s houses on a weekly basis as a black family, supportive, who went through last year what we went through in terms of, like, “Oh, what’s going on with these people?” my wife even told me, “If Cookie and Lucious can make it, you all got to be able to figure this out.”
