This Is Us: 13 Questions We Need Answered In Season Three
Published on March 14, 2018. Updated April 30, 2019It seems like in the blink of an eye the second season of This Is Us has already come to an end. The season finale brought us images of an old Jack, a dream wedding for “Ka-Toby” and some gut-wrenching scenes for what is to come in the future for the Pearsons and their families. While fans will have to wait until the season three premiere in September to catch up with the Pearsons, we are already looking ahead to next season with all the things fans need to see and all the questions we need answered in season three. Warning season two spoilers ahead!
13. Who Was Old Randall Talking About?
The end of season two raised a lot of questions, specifically when we saw Old Randall again. Since creator Dan Fogelman had confirmed the series was going to explore even more timelines, it was already known that we would be seeing Randall in the future again, but this time he scared us. In the flash-forward Randall is still visiting a grown-up Tess at work and tells her, “It’s time to go see her,” and Tess responds, “I’m not ready.” Now the question remains: who are they talking about? Her can be anyone from Beth to Annie to Deja, and whoever it is, it is clear the relationship is strained, which leaves us with even more questions! We need to know who Randall was talking about and why he and Tess weren’t ready to go see that person.
NBC12. Mixing Up the Characters
For most of seasons one and two the focus was very much on the central characters while the peripheral yet important characters like Toby, Beth and Miguel were only seen as support to the Pearsons. Season two’s “The Fifth Wheel” however opened fans up to Toby, Miguel, and Beth when the three spent some time in a bar sharing their perspective on the Pearsons that they loved so much. Their point of view was different and offered a new dynamic to the complicated stories being told through Randall, Rebecca, Kate, Kevin and Jack so it is something we would like to see continued in season three. Susan Kelechi Watson, who portrays Beth Pearson, also confirmed that she is very interested in sharing more screen time with different characters like those scenes she had with Jon Huertas’ Miguel and Chris Sullivan’s Toby.
NBC11. Beth’s Backstory
As the central story has progressed, This Is Us has shared more and more about those most important to the lives of the Pearson family, but in coming seasons it would be nice to see episodes branch out to tell those characters’ individual stories. Season two already touched on this with the penultimate episode “This Big, Amazing, Beautiful Life” which was dedicated to telling Deja’s entire story. With the introduction of Beth’s cousin Zoe in the season two finale it was shared that Zoe’s childhood was similar to Deja’s and it would be interesting to go back in time to see Beth in her childhood with Zoe who is seemingly going to be playing a bigger role in season three. Ahead of the season two finale co-showrunner Isaac Aptaker said, “We’re also going to get to meet a member of Beth’s extended family, which is something people always ask about. They’re always like, ‘I want to meet her mom, I want to meet one of her sisters, I want to meet somebody,’ so we are finally going to meet another person from Beth’s world at the wedding.” With fans clamoring to know more about Beth, an episode dedicated to her would go over very well for season three.
NBC10. How Did Zoe and Kevin Get Together?
The end of season two’s multiple flashes to the future show a year after the wedding and is when season three will presumably pick up, and we saw Kevin and Beth’s cousin, Zoe, on a plane together and seemingly in a relationship. While the episode also saw Zoe introduce herself to Kevin following his speech we now want to know if they started dating immediately and if so did it create any family tension between Randall and Beth and Kevin and Zoe? Also, since they seem to have gotten pretty serious rather quickly, as they take a trip to Vietnam together, does this mean Kevin and Sophie’s great love story is officially over? The Kevin and Zoe relationship adds a very exciting new dynamic to the show but also left us with so many more questions that season three needs to answer.
NBC9. Will We See Future Kate and Kevin?
So far the future timeline has only shown Randall as an older man as he visits Tess, who becomes a social worker, but will we see an extension of this future timeline? With the hopes that season three delves into who Randall and Tess are hesitant to go visit, we hope to also see an older Kate and Kevin and get an insight of how their lives turned out. Additionally, if we do get to see an older Kate and Kevin, questions are raised such as do Toby and Kate stay together, and who does Kevin end up with? Is Rebecca still alive or did she pass away? The future timeline in This Is Us has offered some of the most intriguing plot points so far, so we can only hope it is explored further in season three to some extent.
NBC8. Will There Be Another Death?
This Is Us set itself apart from the very first episode with the major twist that revealed Kevin, Kate, and Randall of the present are the children being born to Rebecca and Jack. It only continued to elevate itself above other TV dramas when it was revealed that Jack was dead in the present. After the majority of the first two seasons dedicated to Jack’s death and discovering the mysteries behind it, This Is Us fans have a feeling that no one is safe and that another major death is coming. The most popular fan theory is pointing to Beth Pearson being the next character to die, and after that ominous future timeline scene, many are speculating it is a dying Beth that Tess and Randall are afraid to go see. Only time will tell if season three is going to bring another devastating death for fans to endure.
NBC7. What Is Going to Happen With Deja?
The season two finale of This Is Us revealed that Deja was not dealing well after being abandoned by her mother, Shauna, who told courts she wanted to terminate all parental rights to her daughter. In the episode, Deja was cruel, mean and surly, and Beth and Randall played a game of Worst Case Scenario where they shared their fears of Deja killing them in their sleep, or her presence having a negative effect on Tess leading to the girls ending up “on the pole.” While Beth’s cousin Zoe was seemingly able to break through to Deja about how much Beth and Randall care about her, she snapped back to anger after Toby’s mother unknowingly told Tess and Annie they looked just like their mother (Beth) and told Deja she looked just like her father, assuming she was Randall and Beth’s biological daughter. The last scene of Deja was her taking a baseball bat to the windshield of Randall’s fancy car, and now the question remains, does she ever revert back to the Deja that came to trust and care for Beth and Randall and their family? Deja’s actions have also played into speculation that it could be her that Randall and Tess are talking about in the future timeline, and maybe Deja resorted to a hard life of crime and/or drugs after her mother’s abandonment. Additionally, their Worst Case Scenario game never mentioned Annie, so maybe while Randall and Beth were so worried about Deja’s influence on Tess they didn’t pay attention to their youngest daughter, who may also be who they are talking about going to see. Maybe it is Annie who “ends up on the pole.”
Ron Batzdorff/NBC6. Toby’s Parents
Without a doubt, one of the most shocking and eye-opening scenes from the season two finale was Toby’s interaction with his parents who were played by TV icons Wendie Malick and Dan Lauria. In the scene, the two did not mince words or hold back when they opened up to Toby about how they felt about Kate. They revealed they were concerned about her instability and the fact that he “bends over backward to keep her calm” and “tiptoes around her” while she seems unconcerned about him because she is too focused on herself. The two blew the idea of Kate and Toby’s perfect relationship wide open and made fans realize how one-sided the whole thing has been, so now we are wondering if the two are going to be seen more as the voice of reason in Toby’s life whether he wants to hear it or not. Everyone was very excited about the addition of two TV greats cast as Toby’s parents and co-showrunner Aptaker confirmed “I certainly hope [we’ll see them again],” so odds are we will see more of Toby’s parents, and maybe learn more about his family as he had mentioned his strained relationship with his brother.
5. Focus on Rebecca and Miguel’s Relationship
The Jack and Rebecca love story will always be at the center of the show, but fans have already been told that season three is going to give more time to the story of Rebecca and Miguel. Mandy Moore revealed that Rebecca’s relationship with Miguel and their backstory will be a “big focus” of season three while Jon Huertas also confirmed the topic would be huge for the upcoming season. “The Rebecca and Miguel relationship will play out around 2008 in our timeline,” he said. “You’ll definitely find out how Rebecca and Miguel fell for each other.” Additionally, hopefully, season three will also see the Big Three open themselves up more to Miguel and be more accepting of him and his relationship with their mother after “letting go” of all the residual feelings that had pent up since Jack’s death.
NBC4. What Happened To Toby?
With Toby’s parents sharing their concerns over his relationship with Kate, fans were abruptly reminded that the cordial, happy-go-lucky Toby had gone through some serious mental health issues including severe depression and suicidal thoughts following his divorce to his first wife. One of the most heart-wrenching clips from the flash-forward at the end of the season two finale showed Toby in bed, with glassy eyes, as Kate tells him “the doctors want to adjust your medications again.” It is clear that Toby’s struggles with depression resurface but the question remains what caused it? Clearly Kate is still by his side, so she didn’t leave him as his parents feared. Also, the storyline could open us up more to who Toby really is and if his overly happy and joking characteristics are a cover-up for darker feelings he is trying to suppress. It will be difficult to watch but season three needs to dedicate more time to Toby and give his battle with depression and mental health issues the focus it deserves.
NBC3. Will Toby and Kate Have a Family?
Heading into the last episode which finally saw the union of “Ka-Toby” the main storyline between the couple was their desire to have a family and the heartbreaking miscarriage they suffered. Up until the finale episode fans believed that season three would focus on Kate and Toby’s journey to becoming parents, but the flash-forward has shifted that focus. Will the resurgence of Toby’s depression stop them from trying to start a family? What if Kate is already pregnant when Toby’s mental health issues present themselves again? Although there is still hope that the two become parents in season three, there is no denying there will be something much different for the pair to focus on in their relationship.
Ron Batzdorff/NBC2. Jack’s Life Before Rebecca
In season two, revelations about Jack kept dropping through numerous episodes as he revealed he had a brother who died in the war in Vietnam and revealed there were secrets about his life that even Rebecca didn’t know about. While Jack may be dead, executive producers Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger have promised the focus will be on Jack as much as ever in season three, but this time a lot of it will be on his life before Rebecca and the Big Three. “I think season two was so much about Jack’s death obviously, and I think season three, in a really cool way, is going to be more about his life and sort of focusing on these chapters that we haven’t yet seen,” Berger revealed. “I think Jack has alluded to Rebecca that he has a lot of secrets and there are parts of his life that even she hasn’t been privy to, and we’re going to get to really explore those parts in a really exciting way.” Dan Fogelman also added that season three is “a big Vietnam season for us. We’re doing some cool stuff. Milo (Ventimiglia) will get a real showcase as younger Jack and there will be more Jack and Rebecca origin stories.”
Ron Batzdorff/NBC1. What Does Kevin Discover in Vietnam?
With the showrunners, along with Dan Fogelman, confirming that season three will have a lot of focus on Jack’s time in Vietnam, and since we see Kevin and Zoe travel to Vietnam at the end of season two’s finale it will probably be through Kevin that we learn more about Jack’s life in the war and what happened to his brother. Of course, that leads many to wonder what secrets was Jack hiding and will Kevin discover them? One prominent fan theory that was posed directly to Fogelman was that Jack fathered a child in Vietnam and Kevin finds this out. When asked about this theory, Fogelman simply responded, “Wait, before you continue, Jack loves Rebecca.” While it might not be a child he is hiding, there is obviously something deeper that happened to Jack in Vietnam and will most likely have to do with his brother, Nicky, all of which will be brought to light in the highly anticipated third season of the hit drama.
Ron Batzdorff/NBC