#’This Is Us’ Showrunner Hints Season 5 Wraps Up ‘In a Different Way’

Secrecy has always been the norm for the family drama’s cast and crew, but redacted script pages and extra precautions became necessary for the latest This Is Us episode, exec producer Dan Fogelman says, given that Season 5 wraps up “in a different way.”

Taking us into the last season (in 2019, NBC renewed This Is Us through Season 6) has been “years in the making structurally,” he hints.

The big event, in present-day, is the wedding of superstar actor Kevin Pearson (Justin Hartley) and endearing Madison (Caitlin Thompson), mother of their newborn twins. The bride may not be close with her family, but the Pearsons are all present, with Kevin’s stoic adopted brother Randall (Sterling K. Brown) as best man.

After last season’s monumental fight, the two have worked hard to move forward. “You’re never going to put to bed some stuff, but they have recalibrated,” says Fogelman. Kevin will need the support on his big day as he “tries to orient the family and orient himself.”

The storyline set in the past — a slice of life for Pearson parents Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) — is “a little bit meta,” Fogelman explains, since it concerns another TV show’s season finale. Anyone remember 1985’s Moldavian wedding massacre from Dynasty?

Having recorded the episode on her VCR, Rebecca is excited to finally watch…but “it may or may not have accidentally been taped over by Jack with a Pittsburgh Pirates game,” says Fogelman with a laugh.

This Is Us, Season 5 finale, Tuesday, May 25, 10/9c, NBC