Season 3 of This Is Us has been touted as the most ambitious season the drama has created to date. It will be jam-packed with reveals and mysteries and these mysteries include the cryptic flash-forward with Tess and Randall that we first saw at the end of Season 2. That scene has been teased as playing a significant part in the show's end game. Now, creator Dan Fogelman has revealed a bit more about the future storyline, as well as how long the big mystery will last:
It's a mystery that won't play out over seasons. There will be answers given in the course of the season. Part of the fun of any family is looking at somebody in certain time frame or a family in a present-day time frame and hypothetically jumping forward 15 years and [seeing] who's still in the picture, who's not in the picture anymore, who has become ill or other. We'll be slowly getting pieces by process of elimination or more questions... until we get to the answer -- and not string it out too long.
Dan Fogelman promised the latest This Is Us mystery won't be incredibly drawn out, and that answers will come during Season 3. Fogelman added that's mainly because the events of 15 years into the future are in some way tied to what's happening throughout Season 3, and will give viewers insight regarding how things will play out in the present day. Additionally, Fogelman noted to EW that the flash forward isn't tied to one specific event like death, marriage, or imprisonment, but will serve as a way to see how each character is affected by their present-day actions down the stretch.
So, how does this play into This Is Us' end game? Dan Fogelman shed some light on Sterling K. Brown's comments by stating he thinks the show is capping flash-forwards at the point viewers have seen in the future. Essentially, he doesn't see the story going any further than that point and time, which could indicate the flash-forward is part of the series' finale. While Fogelman confirmed he doesn't plan on taking This Is Us past its current future arc, he did say there's definitely a good chance of more past storylines such as Season 3's planned story of Rebecca and Jack's first dates, as well as future storylines that precede the 15-year jump.
This Is Us returns to NBC for Season 3 Tuesday, September 25 at 9:00 p.m. ET. NBC has already put together its fall lineup, and we have the breakdown. Those who are more interested in shows coming to television in the near future should definitely hit up our summer premiere guide and fall premiere guide. For more on This Is Us, be sure to read up on Mandy Moore bragging that she knows the ending to the show, or check out this behind-the-scenes look at Season 3
