GoodHousekeeping.com has just released its first-ever digital special fan issue featuring interviews with the cast and crew of This Is Us. The stars and showrunners share insider intel on the characters’ storylines, what’s to come in season 4, how the show almost turned out differently in many ways, and much more! See quotes below, and to read the full issue, visit: www.goodhousekeeping.com/this-is-us-fan-issue.
QUOTES
Milo Ventimiglia (Jack)
On the impact of This Is Us on viewers: “It isn’t just entertainment, it’s real for people and it affects them, and it affects their decisions and makes them choose to be patient, or be kind, or loving. That’s a really incredible feeling. And you kind of want it to go on for a while.”
On viewers searching for “men like Jack” and if they exist: “I think it means that the world, or the community of people who are watching This Is Us, are asking questions like ‘where are the good guys?’ I mean, they are out there. I know right now is a time where there is a lot of bad happening and a lot of poor display, and I think things are turning around. But to me, it kind of feels like a call to arms a bit. It’s like, ‘Hey, hey, guys, do better.’ Let’s be better men. Let’s be better human beings. Let’s just be better as a whole. And they are out there — good people, men and women, are all out there.”
On his greatest hurdle in season 3—rewinding the tape on Jack’s life: “I’ve gotten so used to playing Jack with his 11-year-olds or Jack with his teenagers. I knew those two men very well. Going back to who he was … before any of that attachment, or family, or anything, and knowing my choices I was making for the character were going to have to lead us to that man. That was the challenge of the year.”
On his relationship with Mandy Moore: “I think Mandy has probably heard everything that I’ve said a billion times, so therefore she just kind of knows what’s coming. We spend so much time together that all of a sudden all my stories have been used up. When you do spend more time with somebody … those relationships get deeper. And there’s more meaning to them and more significance to them, and I think that reflects in the work when Mandy and I are on set. I know she’s looking out for me, and I’m looking out for her.”
Mandy Moore (Rebecca)
On what she’s excited to explore in season 4: “The kids are about to graduate from high school… I’m sure that is a tremendously lonely moment, becoming sort of this empty nester especially after being a widow … I’m curious to see what she does with her life and interested to see if she goes back to the music world, if that’s something she finds solace in… I want her to start picking up the pieces of her life and find some joy again. I’m looking forward to seeing how long that takes. What were those steps in between to get where she is with Miguel?”
On the fans who aren’t yet on board with Miguel: “I think they [fans] have been a little too unfair to him … I think they’re starting to come around, and I’m fully behind that. He [Jon] is working his way into people’s hearts and mind, slowly but surely … I think that will be the biggest trick if we can pull that off: to make people really root and believe in Miguel and Rebecca … It’s never going to be Jack and Rebecca, and that’s okay.”
On the “her” storyline: “I think it’s going to take a while to really fully grasp how all-encompassing the whole ‘her’ situation is. [There are] a lot of moving parts in it. You’ve got a lot of people involved, it’s a big family … it all ties into with the way that the show ends. People will be sufficiently satisfied. It all makes sense, and it’s all real. We know where we’re heading, it’s been the plan all along, and we’re just slowly, out of order, getting there.”
Chrissy Metz (Kate)
On what she would change about Kate Pearson: “It’s so hard to say if you’d change anything because I think everything is important to the character’s journey. And the writers have done such an amazing job with her not being one dimensional … I don’t think I would change anything, now that I’m thinking about it.”
On the value of playing a role that gives plus-size women visibility on TV: “Everybody’s story is valuable, whether you’re plus-size or older or wherever you come from. The story of what you’re going through is important to tell. Aside from Melissa McCarthy and Rebel Wilson … you don’t really see them [plus-size women]. And if you do see them, you don’t see why this particular character is going through the issues or what she’s holding onto that’s not serving her.”
On Kate being misunderstood and her relationship with Toby: “I think that she is misunderstood. I don’t think Toby and her communicated how deeply in love he was with these Star Wars characters. You can talk with writers and they might go, ‘No, she’s selfish!’ But I think that in any relationship, proper and thorough communication is essential. I don’t think fans are thinking, ‘Oh this poor girl who lost not only her childhood home and everything that she owns, but also her father. And so ‘things’ – toys, figurines – aren’t going to make her happy. So she’s like, ‘I don’t understand how that can happen. There’s a whole picture that people aren’t necessarily looking at as each character and, of course, as a couple.”
Sterling K. Brown (Randall)
On what’s coming in season 4 for Beth and Randall: “We’re gonna go through some lows with Beth and Randall. But hopefully we’ll see how they’re able to navigate those and make it through to the other side. Hopefully… It’s probably the most intense we’ve seen things between Beth and Randall. And we’ve seen, you know, a little bit of a glimpse into the future of what the status of their marriage could be, which I will neither confirm nor deny.”
On being a naturally emotional guy—a title he embraces: “There was never any sort of stigma in our household attached to showing emotions. My dad would cry at anything. And we would sit and watch, like you know, Lassie or whatever together, and he’d have a tear and I’d have a tear and we’d just have a little moment.”
On his on-screen daughter, Tess’s coming out storyline: “Sue and I both would look at each other, like, after rehearsal and after each take and be like, ‘We got something special here… When I see Beth and Randall be able to give such grace and permission to their daughter to be who she is, I immediately … texted Dan [Fogelman] afterwards and I said, ‘Bro, I think we just shot one of our most important scenes.’”
On watching This Is Us with his wife, Ryan Michelle Bathe: “It’s … you know, it’s so funny because my wife will watch Sue and I on screen and she’s like, ‘Y’all really seem like you’re married.’ And I’m like, ‘Thanks! That’s what we’re going for.’”
Susan Kelechi Watson (Beth)
On Beth and Randall’s rocky future: “They’re trying to work out where they want to be as individuals, and it’s creating friction. I’ve heard many women—friends included—who have said once they became mothers, they lost themselves, and how important it is for a woman to know who she is without the other titles. Those titles are beautiful things, but it’s not the definition of who Beth is, so I love her feeling uncomfortable, and on her own search.”
Lyric Ross (Deja)
On her mentors, Susan Kelechi Watson and Sterling K. Brown: “I definitely look up to them, especially when it comes to acting and growing and working on my craft. Sometimes I get intimidated when we’re having to do a scene with each other, because you know they’re going to do good … but they’re super cool and say [after we film something] ‘why were you stressing before?’”
On the line in season 3 – where Deja mentions her crush on Anderson Cooper – that she doesn’t want to come back to haunt her: “I was like, really, Deja? This is really how you feel? It couldn’t be Michael B. Jordan or someone like that?”
Melanie Liburd (Zoe)
On whether the sparks between Zoe and Kevin will last: “Yes? They love each other! I think it’s so lovely. But I’m sure like any other relationship you don’t know, there could be some rocky roads and … you know?”
Jon Huertas (Miguel)
On the audience finally seeing Miguel for who he really is: “One of the things the writers and I agreed on, is that you can’t let Miguel’s story get in the way of dealing with Jack’s story and recovering from Jack’s death. It’s not just the family recovering from Jack’s death, it’s also the audience.”
On pining for the Pearson kids to come around sooner or later: “I’d love to see Randall, Kate, and Kevin say ‘Oh my god, Miguel was there from the time we can remember.’ I’d love to have that kind of scene between the three kids, where they apologize for being little punks in his and Rebecca’s marriage.”
On loving the important role his character plays: “Miguel is important because he proves that sometimes you find love in an unexpected place. He forces us to think about living in the grey, and not in the black and white.”
Chris Sullivan (Toby)
On tapping into Toby’s darker side: “Getting into the anxiety and depression of the character is hard. It’s a hard place to live as an actor, because it’s hard to keep those emotions from drifting into your own well-being. It’s involved a lot of self care and re-cooperating after long stretches of that.”
On his co-star Chrissy Metz: “She’s a really connected and grounded individual. It’s makes working with her really easy. She always shows up super prepared, and you know, regardless of what we have to shoot that day — whether it’s light or heavy or intense – she’s always a joy to be around.”
Michael Angarano (young Nicky)
On Nicky’s role in season 4: “He’s another connection to Jack. He knew apart of Jack that nobody else did, not even Rebecca. He’s the missing link to the family that nobody knew was missing. I think Nicky will bring a lot of understanding and depth to the show in an unexpected way.”
‘This Is Us’ Was Almost Totally Different, According to Dan Fogelman
Jack’s death almost went a completely different way: “The appliance that started the house fire. That was something that was always in the back of my mind, but until the moment it got locked down on paper, it wasn’t always the exact, exact thing… there were other ideas on the table for multiple weeks leading up to the decision.”
On Sterling K. Brown making Randall funnier than he was supposed to be: “He’ll bring up something that happened to him, and a writer will say, ‘I can’t stop thinking about the story of Sterling and X.’ And then they’ll wind up working it into a story. For example, Sterling told a story on a talk show about delivering his child at home in a funny way, and it ended up in the show.”
On the writers not agreeing on the season 4 premiere: “I said, ‘Guys [referring to the writers], I was up in bed all night last night staring at the ceiling, excited’ … and they’re all staring at me blankly. And then they break the news [to me] that for the last half hour they’ve been talking about the fact that they all agree it’s a bad idea.”
The Scoop on Season 4 – according to shows writers and cast members
Dan Fogelman on how the show won’t revolve around Jack so much anymore: “I think a lot of the mystery of Jack has been kind of told by the end of this season [season 3], but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s any less interesting to go and live with those younger families. We are starting to move towards new chapters in season 4 with the Big Three … some of the more mysterious or dramatic pulls of the series might start falling into the hands of some of our other characters.”
Chrissy Metz on how the new baby will affect Toby and Kate’s relationship: “We’ve seen a lot at the surface with stuff, and things start to get a little more serious and they realize that it’s not all fun and games. We [Kate and Toby] can’t protect ourselves with humor and sarcasm.”
Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore on how Jack and Rebecca’s younger days will likely be explored:
Milo: “They were married for five years before they had kids … and might’ve been dating five years before they got married … they had their own lives free of parenthood. I think that’s the stuff that I’d want to explore – what happened in that period of time.”
Mandy: “We’re also going to follow Jack and Rebecca back from California to Pittsburgh, to see how they pick up on their relationship from there after that road trip [which went] a little south.”