This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman reveals that the series will feature a COVID-19 storyline in season five… even as the series finale is unchanged
This Is Us won’t shy away from one of the biggest hot-button issues of the day for its fifth season.
Series creator Dan Folgeman, 44, revealed Sunday on Twitter that he and the show’s writing staff plan to tackle the ongoing coronavirus pandemic head-on in the upcoming season.
Despite the topical turn, the show likely will still end as it was always envisioned.
Topical: This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman, 44, revealed on Twitter Sunday that the series would address the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in its upcoming fifth season; still from This Is Us
Fogelman was responding to a tweet with questions about when This Is Us would return to production amid the pandemic and whether or not the show would mention the coronavirus.
‘Some vague #ThisIsUs answers (sorry),’ the Life Itself director wrote.
‘Yes on Covid,’ he continued. ‘We’ve decided to attack things head on. Very proud of @ThisIsUsWriters.’
Despite the change of direction for the newest season, the show’s ending appears to be unchanged.
New direction: Fogelman responded to a tweet about the series and said it would tackle COVID-19, though he didn’t have specifics on when the show would return
Staying the course: The writer–director confirmed that the long-planned season six series finale would be unchanged; pictured in March 2019
‘Same planned ending. Same route to get there,’ he wrote. ‘Hope that’s (somewhat) useful?’
The scribe didn’t have any solid information to offer when it came to when it would be safe enough to resume production, nor when the episodes would finally air on television.
Back in May 2019, NBC renewed This Is Us for an additional three seasons through season six, which Fogelman has said was his intended stopping point.
The primetime soap opera has been a solid ratings success for NBC since it premiered in 2016.
Success: In May 2019, the series was renewed for three additional seasons to take it to Fogelman’s intended season six ending
The series follows a flashback structure built around the death of the Pearson family patriarch Jack Pearson (played by Milo Ventimiglia).
Mandy Moore stars as his wife Rebecca in both flashback scenes and in present day scenes thanks to old-age makeup.
Sterling K. Brown, Justin Hartley and Chrissy Metz play the family’s three adult children, while child actors stand in for them in the flashback sequences.
All-star cast: Sterling K. Brown, Justin Hartley and Chrissy Metz play the adult children of Rebecca (Mandy Moore) and the late Randall (played in flashback by Milo Ventimiglia)
In a recent episode of Deadline’s Contenders series, Brown delved into season four’s cliffhanger ending and the strained relationship between him and his brother, played by Hartley.
‘The relationship has been complicated from the beginning,’ he said. ‘They will continue like a yo-yo — will come apart and together, apart and together. I think by the time we reach that point in the future, there are other things on their minds that they are able to focus on to put aside whatever differences they have.
‘But for the next two or however many seasons we’re around, I think you’ll continue to see these brothers fray and then resolve, fray and resolve.’