Fans of the Emmy-winning NBC drama This Is Us might need to invest in more Kleenex soon. That’s because creator Dan Fogleman is giving new hope to audiences missing the Pearson family.
After the six-season series began streaming on Netflix earlier this month, some wondered if there was more story to tell centering on the Big Three and their lives after the death of their mother, Rebecca (Mandy Moore). Despite Fogleman claiming he always intended to end the show in season six, rumors of potential spinoffs featuring the Pearson kids Kevin (Justin Hartley), Kate (Chrissy Metz), and Randall (Sterling K. Brown) began swirling after the series landed on the streaming platform. And while the showrunner hasn’t seemed interested in exploring life with the Pearson family after the death of its matriarch, he has pitched a movie idea that might have new life thanks to the Netflix bump.
Fogleman told Variety in 2022 that he had already spoken with NBC executives about a movie that would focus on what Pearson family life would look like if “Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) survived the fire.” During a TCA panel, he confirmed the powers that be at NBC were interested in the idea saying, “The president of NBC is literally texting me right now: ‘Yes to the movie.’”
“I say no to nothing,” Fogleman said. “If we can figure out a movie and can get together with [the cast] again in a few years, I’d love to.”
The cast is also on board for more Pearson family drama with Hartley, Metz, Sterling, and Moore all expressing their desire to revisit the show’s tearful yet happy ending. “I am down for a This Is Us movie, I love these cats,” Hartley told Access Hollywood in 2021. “I would do a trilogy movie, I really would. I would do a movie every year with these guys.”
For now, fans can rewatch all the heartbreaking family dysfunction on Netflix while Fogleman and company decide exactly how they’re going to emotionally terrorize us next.
(Via Good Housekeeping)