There's a surprising reason This Is Us is like Lost — and it has nothing to do with the shows' plots.
In a wide-ranging Hollywood Reporter feature on the NBC drama, star Mandy Moore compared her show to the hit ABC series. And while the shows have almost nothing in common, her reasoning actually makes total sense.
This Is Us, much like Lost, relies on surprising plot twists — so its cast and crew are under a lot of pressure to keep things under wraps. "It wasn't like this last year," Moore told THR of filming the show’s first season. "It's like suddenly we're on Lost."
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THR explains that when it comes to how Pearson patriarch Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) died, NBC is going to extremes. Anyone involved on the show in any capacity, even extras and crew members, has to sign an non-disclosure agreement. The show is also filming things "out of order to throw off potential paparazzi," THR notes.
This Is Us may be a family drama, but when it comes to spoilers, it's basically at the level of Westworld or Game of Thrones at this point. Apparently, the show has even employed code names and redacted script pages to avoid any potential plot leaks.
The THR feature also touches on This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman's efforts to make sure the show’s writers’ room was diverse. To properly tell Randall and Beth's stories, for example, Fogelman wanted Black writers to help create the characters' experiences. THR describes the show's writers as "diverse in race, gender, age, body type, and life experience." And where the show's writers didn't have the same experiences as the characters, such as transracial adoption, they consulted people who had gone through similar situations.
If you're a This Is Us fan, the full story is worth a read before the show returns later this month. Check out the feature over at The Hollywood Reporter.
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