Though 2021 is coming to an end, that also means the new (and final) season ofThis Is Usis just around the corner.
Ahead of the sixth season of the NBC hit series, the show’s creator Dan Fogelman and the cast, including Mandy Moore, Milo Ventimiglia, Chrissy Metz, Sterling K. Brown, Justin Hartley and more, spoke with PEOPLE about what audiences can expect from the premiere episode on Jan. 4. They also share new details about the final chapter for the Pearson family, which will be told over 18 episodes.
As fans will recall,season 5 endedwith one couple calling off their romance while a flashforward teased a family member’s second wedding.
Season 6 will kick off with the Big Three’s birthday as per the show’s tradition, this time with Kate, Randall and Kevin marking their 41st year in the present day. Throughout the last season, viewers will be treated to another trilogy of episodes that will each focus on a Pearson sibling as well as a Jack-centric episode about a significant death in his life.
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“The first couple of episodes are really just setting everybody up for a bit of a ride,” Fogelman told PEOPLE. “It’s kind of like the part of the rollercoaster where you’re just ticking upwards. There are no big, gigantic or crazy things happening at the end of the first episode. This isn’t a season about a build. We’re kind of setting the table for an ending, and it takes a moment to build that up.”
Below, the stars tease what will be explored in the final season as well as what they’re excited for fans to see as many of them will direct an episode and two will serve as co-writers.
Rebecca
Thefirst trailerof the upcoming season showed matriarch Rebecca struggling with memory loss in the present day as her Alzheimer’s diagnosis progresses.
The actress, 37, added, “It’s really challenging. It’s challenging not to let my grief of her situation influence what she’s going through because she is handling this situation with so much grace and honesty. She’s very intentional about what she wants from her life right now and how she wants to live it. The plan she makes, it’s really something, but it’s hard.”
As for what she’s particularly looking forward to this season? “I really am excited about exploring Rebecca and Miguel. Figuring out their courtship, how they found themselves back together and eventually getting married,” she said. “I’m still excited about exploring early Jack and Rebecca days as well.”
Ron Batzdorff/NBC
Jack
Ventimiglia, who returns to the directing chair for an episode this season, is hoping fans will soak in the Jan. 4 premiere as it marks the beginning of the end.
“A lot of people really got into the show and took it as therapy, took it as a desire to communicate and change things in their own lives. So I think people who will pay attention this season, they’ll embrace the same way they had in previous seasons. But also know that it’s the last stop, it’s the last go-around,” he told PEOPLE. “We’ve built something that is rare in the arts, which is lasting conversation and to truly impact people, as I’ve heard it has people calling it to their weekly therapy sessions.”
Later in the sixth season, fans will explore Jack’s past like never before. “To have an episode that is purely the discovery of Jack, it’s been nice to revisit,” Ventimiglia, 44, said.
“It was really painful to shoot. It was about his mother’s passing and dealing with that, the distance and the conversations he wished he had,” the actor shared. “Jack is the guy who’s always trying to be the strength of the family. What happens when that strength wears thin and it breaks, he can’t always be the strength of his family. It was tough to shoot but also was very satisfying as an actor.”
Kate
This year’s Big Three birthday may be less of a celebration. “I think [fans] are gonna be, sort of, on edge about Rebecca’s diagnosis and how that’s taking place, and then how that’s impacting everybody else in the family,” Metz, 41, told PEOPLE, predicting how viewers could respond to the Jan. 4 premiere. “And, you know, birthdays are never what you’d like them to be.”
Metz added, “But what’s cool is we’ll get to see who he really is through all of his stuff, and how that unfolds.”
About the moment Kate and Phillip’s relationship status changes, Geere told PEOPLE, “Fans want Kate to be happy. You can see from that flashforward [wedding] that she’s happy. Life chucks curveballs all over the place, and I’m excited to read the scripts that do the transition into how they fall in love. It’s finding those little moments rather than the big gestures because we’re still in the present day — we have five years to fall in love.”
Randall
First look photos from the season premiere show Randall marking his birthday separately from Kate and Kevin. “There’s a bit of a separation, but it’s only because we all are living very different lives right now,” Metz said of the reason why the siblings could be apart from one another on their big day.
Brown, 45, was tight-lipped about the premiere but did tell PEOPLE about the upcoming Randall-centric episode. “It’s a surprise. It’s a road trip episode,” he said, adding, “It’s really, really good. [The trilogy] goes Kevin, Kate and Randall, in terms of the order of episodes. They’re all really good. They’re all really different and each has their own tone to it.”
As for how the show will approach its series finale, Brown said he’s “excited” for viewers to see how it all unfolds. “Folks have been waiting and I think we’ve got something good to show,” he said. “I love the show. I’m biased because even when I watch the show, I watch it as a fan, not as a cast member. I feel like the show has had a really gorgeous arc and you can’t create that unless you know that you have an endpoint.”
Kevin
With Kevin turning 41, Hartley said his character is “taking a moment” and taking stock of his life as a father of twins. “He’s slowing down a little bit, which is nice. I mean, he’s got these kids now. He’s at a totally different place,” the actor, 44, told PEOPLE about the premiere episode.
Kevin is single once again on his birthday after ending his relationship with Madison (Caitlin Thompson), who is the mother of his babies and Kate’s best friend. “They’re gonna have to figure out how to co-parent,” Thompson told PEOPLE about Kevin and Madison’s future. “Whether there’s something between them that blossoms or not is something you are gonna have to wait and see.”
On the impending split, Chris Sullivan told PEOPLE, “Fans don’t want to see characters that they care about hurting. Unfortunately, that type of pain is a part of life. I think an interesting thing that Dan and the writing staff have done is give us these handbooks for relationships. If they’re going to show us every aspect of relationships then somebody’s got to break up at some point — and it ain’t gonna be Randall and Beth.”
Beth
Susan Kelechi Watson was able to co-write an episode for the final chapter, and it’s an important script for the actress as it will further dive into her character Beth. “I got to kind of write Beth’s final opus so it’s really beautiful,” Watson told PEOPLE about the episode titled “Our Little Island Girl: Part Two.”
While fans will have to wait until the sixth season’s sixth episode to watch the Beth-centric storyline, Watson dropped hints about the premiere. “The emotion of it in terms of dealing with what’s now going on with Rebecca and then the Big Three are all equally dealing with their own stuff as we left off with last season,” she teased. “For some reason, they always seem to reckon with that stuff on their birthday. They never enjoy their birthday. Just enjoy the day!”
Miguel
“This season, we’re gonna open up a little bit more of Miguel,” Jon Huertas told PEOPLE. “We’re gonna open up a lot more of Miguel and Rebecca’s story, which has been amazing to film and discover that Mandy and I have great chemistry.”
Fans of Jack may have been hesitant about coming around to Miguel’s romance with Rebecca but Huertas thinks the last season will sway some viewers to love his character. “When you start playing with their romance a little bit more, it’s like, ‘Oh, this is cool.’ We’ve had so much fun doing it, I think that’s going to translate through the screen. When the actors are having fun and like the story they’re telling, the audience feels that. I think that’s going to help anybody who’s apprehensive about Miguel and, hopefully say, ‘I’m rooting for these two.’ "
Laughing about how fans now have Phillip as a new character to be apprehensive about, Huertas joked: “So glad he’s here because they hate him.” (Geere jokingly told PEOPLE, “There’s a real kind of curse on any guy that comes into contact with a female Pearson.")
As for the premiere episode and what to expect, Huertas teased: “In the first couple of episodes, there are some things that people are going to want some answers as to what we’re setting up. Some things are different, some living arrangements are different.”
Season 6 ofThis Is Uspremieres Jan. 4 on NBC.
source: people.com
