10 Things We Learned About This Is Us at PaleyFest 2017
Michael Bulbenko for the Paley Center
On the tail of their first season finale, the cast and producers of This Is Us took to the Dolby Theatre stage in Hollywood on Saturday night for PaleyFest 2017. NBC’s hit family drama makes its viewers laugh, cry and ugly cry on a weekly basis while following the travails of the extended Pearson clan. The panel discussion caused the same reactions, with some in the audience shedding a few tears during the session. (You’ll read why later.)
The popularity of the series was clear even before the event began, as the queue to get into the theater wound around the Hollywood & Highland Center. Moderator Kristin Dos Santos of E! News told the crowd that it set an all-time attendance record for any PaleyFest event. The conversation that followed didn’t disappoint, as the cast and several previously unannounced guests kept things lively and unpredictable.
That big Jack and Rebecca fight was almost a true ‘Oner.’
The season finale, “Moonshadow,” featured a knockout fight scene between Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore), one of our favorite TV couples. “It was painful, it was intense,” Moore said. “We separated our chairs to opposite ends of the stage,” Ventimiglia added. “No, you did,” Moore, corrected. Ventimiglia continued without missing a beat: “I felt that Jack and Rebecca needed separation; they couldn’t be together.” For the record, the two actors played off each other and finished each other’s sentences throughout the night—just like, well, an old married couple.
The audience also learned that the scene was rehearsed and choreographed for one take, a long, continuous shot. “That’s what [series creator] Dan Fogelman and [writers] Ike Aptker and Elizabeth Berger had wanted,” Ventimiglia said. Moore explained that the scene that aired came so close, but included coverage (shots from other camera angles).
Tami and Eric Taylor save the day.
Because their fight—about sacrificing dreams and careers for spouses and kids—left so many fans heartbroken, Dos Santos tried a little marriage therapy for Jack and Rebecca. She asked the actors to do a cold read of a scene between one of the greatest TV couples ever—Coach and Tami Taylor from Friday Night Lights—so that the Pearsons could learn from the Taylors. Moore channeled her best Tami, reading this fitting line from the FNL finale: “It’s my turn, babe. I have loved you and you have loved me, and we have compromised, both of us… for your job. And now it’s time to talk about doing that for my job.”
What happens in Season Two?
Of course, Executive Producers John Requa and Glenn Ficarra didn’t say much about the upcoming season. They told the crowd that the writers don’t reconvene until June, so nothing’s set in stone. “We got to see Jack from a certain perspective this season, and I think we might get into another perspective, [or] in other characters more,” Ficarra said. “It’s kind of like an endless canvass.” Sterling K. Brown, who surprised fans by flying in for the event from a movie shoot, wasn’t buying any of the producer-speak: “Appreciate the specificity,” he cracked.
Chrissy Metz knows that her character, Kate, wants to sing, but Metz isn’t sure if “it’s going to be a coffee shop or a mini-tour. Who knows?” Both Metz and Moore said they’d be open to singing as mother-daughter next season. “I’ll slap on the prosthetics (that age her) in two seconds,” Moore said. “Anything to sing with you, Chrissy.”
Theories about Jack’s death abound.
Several cast members know how Jack dies, and moderator Dos Santos asked them to discount at least one of the death theories floating on the Internet. They immediately nixed the idea that Jack dies on September 11th, but kept mum on the others. “The ‘plane crash’ theory popped up because of Kate’s fear of flying, and Kevin mentioned in one episode that he obliterated the model planes he made with his father. And there was a real plane crash in 1994 that killed 132 people in Pittsburgh, where the show takes place,” Dos Santos said. She rattled off other popular death theories: Rebecca killed him; Miguel murdered him; suicide; he got sick; house fire; “or the ringer… he’s not actually dead.”
Miguel is the show’s most controversial character.
Jon Huertas (Miguel) was another surprise PaleyFest guest (along with Gerald McRaney, who plays Dr. K). Miguel, Jack’s best friend and Rebecca’s new husband, isn’t that’s popular with the This is Us fan base. In his defense, Huertas said, “It’s a very important character. We’re going to see what happens with Miguel later on, and hopefully, he’ll prove that he’s just as dedicated a husband as Jack.”