NBC’s heart-wrenching family drama This Is Us is getting ready to head into its sixth and final season. With emotions at an all-time high, it seems like there's a lot at stake for the final season, and to make sure the cast was all-in, it looks like there will be some extra payouts this season. In fact, it’s being reported that Milo Ventimiglia and more of the cast have received huge bonuses for the show’s final season.
Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown, Chrissy Metz, Justin Hartley, Susan Kelechi Watson, Chris Sullivan and Jon Huertas all earned pay raises when production on Season 6 began over the summer, according to Deadline. The raises reportedly came after the cast themselves asked for more money.
At the start of the series, everyone earned different amounts, but that changed in Season 2, as the outlet reports the main cast worked for "pay parity," and have kept to that ideal ever since. This time around, creator Dan Fogelman reportedly backed the actors’ request for a raise, which was agreed to be a $2 million bonus for the seven original cast members. In addition, John Huertas got a $1 million bonus and reports allege the rest of the cast may have pooled some of this bonus money so everyone achieved parity, given he's been a series regular since Season 2 as well.
The critically-acclaimed NBC drama has been making audiences cry for years and this final season shouldn't be any different. Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore, who portray Jack and Rebecca Pearson, were “incredibly devastated” when they found out how the series will come to an end and how the Pearson journey will wrap up. So, if that's not a stamp of approval, I'm not sure what is.
Fans won’t have to wait much longer to be reunited with the Pearsons, as Season 6 is premiering at the top of the New Year. Since the NBC show is premiering at midseason, it will be airing mostly uninterrupted, meaning it won’t be like last season when it seemed like there was a break every other week thanks to COVID causing production delays.
Season 5 of This Is Us ended on some pretty shocking cliffhangers, mostly one that included a flash-forward of Chrissy Metz’s Kate marrying her fellow music teacher colleague. Meanwhile, Rebecca has been slowly losing her memory and her mental health is deteriorating. In a new teaser for the upcoming season, she said forgetting the little things is what she’s most worried about rather than the big things.
It’s nice to know that the cast was able to get a big pay raise for the final season, because they definitely deserve it. This Is Us has won Emmys, Critics Choice Awards, Golden Globes, SAG, and has been nominated for and won plenty more awards throughout the years--and that's all outside of its ratings success. Season 6 will definitely bring more emotions and closure, but fingers crossed it won’t be too bad!
Truly, this show has made me cry enough and I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle any more major heartbreak. I might need to prepare myself, though, as Season 6 of This Is Us premieres Tuesday, January 4 on NBC!
