You Might Need Tissues For These This Is Us Season 5 Updates

For four consecutive years now, the end of September has meant a new season of This Is Us. It would be an understatement to say this fall is going to be a bit unusual, and unfortunately, NBC’s programming is going to look different, too. As of mid-August, This Is Us hasn’t resumed filming, so it's fairly certain that season 5 won't air in September. While Actress Mandy Moore told the Today show she hopes production will restart as soon as it’s safe to do so, it's unclear when that will be.

“I’ve heard conflicting reports. I don’t think there’s any official word. We would normally, historically, go back to work this week. Like, right after the Fourth of July is when we typically go back,” Moore said in early July. “I know the writers have convened sort of a virtual writers’ room probably two months ago, so once we get all the clear I think from maybe local government here in Los Angeles that it’s safe to go back, we’ll be ready to go.”

According to Deadline, L.A. allowed a batch of shows and movies to begin filming in mid-June, but This Is Us was not one of those projects. And according to creator Dan Fogelman, it’s unclear when exactly This Is Us will get the green light. “Not sure on production start. Not sure when new eps will air,” he tweeted on August 16. 

Showrunner Isaac Aptaker confirmed that this upcoming season will be the show’s second-to-last, and that the writers already have plans for season 6. But This Is Us has never been afraid to get real and address current issues, so the writers have been finding a way to adjust season 5’s storylines to tackle everything that’s happened in the world since season 4 ended back in March. Fogelman wrote on Twitter that the writers “decided to attack things head on” regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. He added that this will not change This Is Us' planned series ending, which has been determined for awhile now.

When asked about whether the Black Lives Matter movement would make it into season 5, star Sterling K. Brown gave TVLine a somewhat vague answer but referenced “conversations” with Fogelman and in the writers’ room. “I can say this. I’ve had conversations with Dan and the writers from our show, and I know that the world is necessarily going to impact the world of the Pearsons, right?” Brown told the outlet. “They’re still — not knowing when we’ll be going back — wanting to reserve this space to say, ‘What else is there that’s going to be transpiring in our world that we also may want to incorporate into our show?’”

For the impatient, Fogelman previously teased some of the main storylines we can expect in season 5. In an interview with TV Guide, he said that matriarch Rebecca Pearson (Moore) has a “challenging chapter” coming up with her clinical trial in St. Louis, and fans wondering about the identity of Kevin’s (Justin Hartley) fiancée can expect an answer early on. Kate (Chrissy Metz) will also undergo something unexpected and difficult, Metz hinted to People. As for the final member of the Big Three, Brown told Entertainment Weekly that Randall will continue to explore his past.

But Fogelman said that, above all else, season 5 is about new beginnings. As he told The Hollywood Reporter, “I'm very excited about — especially with where the world is right now — the uplift and I would call it almost a rebirth that comes next season.”