THE LAST OF US

We didn’t mean to make Milo Ventimiglia cry! As This Is Us enters its emotional final season, the Pearson patriarch is the one getting misty

- JIM HALTERMAN

This Is Us SEASON PREMIERE Tuesday, Jan. 4, 9/8c, NBC

THERE ARE QUESTIONS every fan of This Is Us wants to be answered before NBC’s time-hopping Pearson family drama makes us shed our last tear. How does music teacher Kate (Chrissy Metz), currently married to Toby (Chris Sullivan), end up engaged to her crusty coworker Phillip (Chris Geere)? Can her brother Kevin (Justin Hartley) and his ex-fiancée Madison (Caitlin Thompson) still get happy endings? Will mom Rebecca (Mandy Moore) find peace when she loses her battle to (presumably) Alzheimer’s? What else will late dad Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) teach us about marriage, parenting, and ourselves? On a Saturday in December, after Ventimiglia had spent the week pulling double duty on set—“Yesterday was Day 3 in a pool with 7-year-olds, wearing a fake beard, acting and directing”—he phoned us to dish.

We have a photo of Jack and Rebecca embracing in the Season 6 premiere. They’re beaming. What’s happening?

Just like we’ve explored real sadness together, that moment right there, it’s real happiness. That photo [above] makes me smile because that’s my partner. That’s my TV wife, you know? I remember our trip to New York [when the show was announced in May 2016]. We were at a party, and in a quiet moment, sitting off to the side, Mandy and I raised our glasses and made vows of a sort: “I’m not going to be happy unless you’re happy. Let’s communicate and support one another.” That hasn’t stopped.