The death of Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) hung over NBC's This Is Us like a dark cloud. We all knew it was coming — the series exists on multiple timelines, and in present day, Jack has been dead for years — but that didn't mean fans weren't constantly guessing how the family patriarch passed away. If you thought This Is Us might gives fans a reprieve following such an intense two-season storyline, well, think again. Spoilers for season 3 of This Is Us just proved that the next overarching mystery will be even more mind-blowing — and heartbreaking.
The season 2 finale of This Is Us, titled "The Wedding," seemed like the most optimistic episode of the series to date: Kate (Chrissy Metz) married Toby (Chris Sullivan) and actively chose to let go of some of the baggage from Jack's untimely death. Then the flash forwards came, proving that This Is Us will never let us have nice things. Toby's depression reared its head just one year after his blissful wedding day, while in the distant future, an older Randall (Sterling K. Brown) cryptically told his now-adult daughter Tess (Iantha Richardson) that it was time to "go see her." Tess told her dad, "I'm not ready" — to which Randall replied, "I'm not, either."
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So. Who the heck were these two talking about, and why did the mood seem so... grim? Brown told Entertainment Weekly in a new interview that while he's very aware of who Randall and Tess were discussing, he's definitely not allowed to say. What he did say, however, should make fans prepare for another "how did Jack die"-level of mystery.
"I know who the person is that future Randall is referring to, but [series creator Dan] Fogelman would cut off my big toe if I actually told you who it was," the actor cryptically explained to EW. "But I can tell you it’s probably not what you suspect. In classic Fogelman style, it will be like, 'Oh, wow — didn’t see that coming.'"
This could be the clue we need to narrow down our options on who this "her" really is. If it's not who we might expect, can we knock Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) off the list? I was very much afraid that the A+ mom would be killed off the show, Jack-style, but thankfully, co-showrunner Isaac Aptaker confirmed she was safe to Glamour. Deja (Lyric Ross) also seems like an obvious choice, considering her less-than-cordial behaviour to the Pearsons at Kate's wedding — and that may mean she's not the "her" Randall is referring to, either.
It could be Kate whom Randall and Tess are worried about seeing, which would make sense, considering in a separate interview with Entertainment Weekly, actress Metz shared her own two cents on the flash forward.
"It’s actually very heartbreaking," the actress teased to the publication.
Start theorising not only who the her is, but what happened to cause such drama. This Is Us season 3 can't break our hearts soon enough.