Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
How does Jack die? Answer is coming
The details of a tragedy looming over “This Is Us” will be revealed in Season 2. Dan Fogelman, creator of NBC’s time-shifting hit drama series, said the circumstances about the death of family man Jack will be part of the show’s second season that begins Sept. 26.
“If that is a question that is haunting people, in the course of the second season” they’ll get the answers they need and more, Fogelman told a TV critics meeting — in Beverly Hills, Calif.
His character’s ultimate fate — but not how he meets it — has been a key part of the show that travels between the past and present of Jack (Milo Ventimiglia), wife Rebecca (Mandy Moore), their three children and family circle. Fogelman said the new season’s first episode will create “some momentum” toward filling in the blanks about Jack’s death. But characters who die are revisited in the show’s era-hopping that’s intended to illustrate how “the past influences the present,” he said.
“Jack has been dead the entire season, and he’s nominated for an Emmy,” Fogelman said, wryly.
The hit drama earned 11 Emmy nominations, including acting nods for Ventimiglia, Sterling K. Brown, Chrissy Metz and Ron Cephas Jones.
The show’s present-day storyline will pick up shortly after it ended last season and on the 37th birthday of siblings Randall (Brown), Kate (Metz) and Kevin (Justin Hartley).