This Is Us Creator Reveals Parts of Series Finale Were Filmed Years Ago

It's been almost a month since the series finale of This Is Us aired on NBC, but the emotional notes of the episode are still resonating — and secrets about how the episode came together are now being revealed. It turns out that a number of scenes from the series finale were actually filmed years before thanks to series creator Dan Fogelman having a clear plan for where he wanted This Is Us to go from the start, something that allowed him to plan accordingly.

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Fogelman explained that, with the show's dual timelines, he had a plan on the series' ending from the beginning and when the series was renewed for multiple seasons, he realized the importance of capturing footage of the Pearson children before the actors playing them aged.

"They picked us up for three seasons right away," Fogelman said. "Then I was like, 'I'll do another three if you pick it up right now so we can plan accordingly.' So, we shot the bulk of the ending three or four years ago."

He continued, "We had little kids who were growing up really fast. I wanted to capture something when they were younger. We shot half of it and then put the footage away. I knew what the ending was going to be pretty specifically. Even though we had a hundred gazillion episodes in between, we treated it like one piece of storytelling. For me, at least, that made it manageable."

This Is Us followed the heartwarming and emotional story about a unique set of triplets, their struggles, and their parents. the series starred Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Chrissy Metz, Justin Hartley, Chris Sullivan, Susan Kelechi Watson, and Sterling K. Brown. And while the series ending is one that Fogelman had envisioned from early on, he's also been open about not saying no to more, perhaps even a movie of some kind, though he wasn't exactly certain how that would work.

"I say no to nothing," series creator Dan Fogelman explained earlier this year. "If we can figure out a movie and can get together with [the cast] again in a few years, I'd love to. I don't know what it would be because we close out our story in the series finale.... It's not because we don't have any more story to tell, it's because we exactly planned it to go this way. We're on a five-year path and to suddenly pivot and add more because we don't want it to end wouldn't be quite responsible for the show and what we have planned, and it would start becoming something else."

"I don't know what that [movie] would be," Fogelman added. "By the end of this season, I think we'll have told the complete story, so I'm not sure it's like if you're doing the movie of like what would have happened if Jack survived the fire or something."  

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