So… not much happened on the This Is Us Season 4 finale, did it?
Only a baby daddy reveal… a surprise marriage… actually two surprises marriages… and so much more.
What did all the crazy developments on Tuesday night mean for the future? For Season 5 in particular?
People Magazine tracked down creator Dan Fogelman in order to have him break down a number details about the main characters, while discussing where season 5 will pick up — and then where it will go from there.
Consider this your This Is Us Spoilers Warning!
And then scroll down for more…
Let’s start with Rebecca and her impending move to St. Louis.
“We have a big storyline planned for Mandy in the next coming season in present day as an older woman and her past timelines,” Fogelman teases.
“Particularly, when we land in St. Louis with her, kind of exploring with Miguel. …
“Here is the opportunity where we’re going to be bringing them in a location together and undergo this treatment that they didn’t necessarily plan on trying.”
Years of pent-up frustration exploded out of Randall on the finale when unloaded on his brother about their late father, Jack.
“He died ashamed of you,” he told Kevin.
Why did this happen now? What will happen next?
Fogelman would only say:
“Family rifts are really hard to both be a part of and to watch… It had to be something that would really separate these two for a period of time for this family.”
“This is Cain and Abel type stuff for these two, this is a fight that goes towards literally their inception,” Fogelman added of the fight between these siblings.
“Two kind of alpha men growing up under the same roof in the same exact period of time, both with widely different skill sets.
“Part of making a drama is not being afraid to make people be really flawed and really ugly so that hopefully, as we tend to do on our show, the hope and the repair we offer is well-earned and well-executed when it comes.”
What about Kevin’s love life? Now complicated by twins?!?
“There are many more chapters in Kevin’s romantic story,” Fogelman said when asked about the identity of Kevin’s future fiancée. “Kevin has a journey ahead of him.”
Elsewhere, neither Toby nor Kate showed up to the hospital to meet their granddaughter in a flash-forward.
Previews the creator:
“Our hope is to continue to make people invested in the future storylines by getting to those characters slowly, as we’ve done, so that by the time we’re really landing to full stories with them, if we do, you feel that great investment.”
Of next season’s themes? As a whole?
Fogelman says:
“I’m very excited about, especially with where the world is right now, the uplift, and I would call it almost rebirth, that comes next season.
“Kind of rebirth and a lot of new beginnings, particularly for birth and rebirth would be a big thematic part of next season.”
And one final tease?
There’s going to be something big in the season premiere.
Darn it, Dan! That is so long from now!