This Is Us aired its Season 2 finale last night, but that's certainly not the end for the Pearson family. Season 3 will likely premiere sometime this fall, and now that we finally know the truth about Jack's death, the show can spend more time focusing on its other characters—though thanks to This Is Us's signature flashbacks, Jack's not going anywhere. The new season is also set to incorporate more flashes into the future, which we glimpsed with Tess and Randall last night.
Here's everything we know about the forthcoming season of This Is Us thus far:
1) The 18-episode season will premiere in September.
NBC ordered a third season of This Is Us back in January 2017, at the same time it renewed the show for Season 2. According to Deadline, Fogelman said Season 3 will premiere in September at a SXSW panel on Monday. It will consist of 18 episodes.
At the time of the two-season renewal, NBC Entertainment President Jennifer Salke also hinted at the possibility of more seasons beyond that: "There’s no doubt [This Is Us] will have a long life on NBC"
2) Jack will be back, of course.
"Even though we saw Jack pass, that doesn't mean I, Milo, am leaving the show," Ventimiglia revealed on Megyn Kelly Today. "There's no Ned Stark happening."
This Is Us creator and co-showrunner Dan Fogelman told EW we'll learn a lot about Jack's past in Season 3: “In many ways, Jack might be the character we still have the most to learn about, because he’s kept so many secrets in this period before we’ve really known him.”
In last night's finale, we saw Kevin and his new girlfriend, Zoe, traveling to Vietnam, where Jack served during the war. At a SXSW panel on Monday, Fogelman said the new season is "a big Vietnam season for us. We’re doing some cool stuff. Milo will get a real showcase as younger Jack and there will be more Jack and Rebecca origin stories."
3) Season 3 will see more marital woes for Beth and Randall.
We saw how welcoming a foster child and starting a new business put a strain on Beth and Randall'a marriage in Season 2, and Sterling K. Brown says the trouble's not over for the couple in Season 3. “There will be a bit of an exploration of marriage with regards to Randall and Beth going through times that aren’t all sunshine and rainbows,” he told People, with a promise that the couple is not divorcing. “That’s not to say that they are in danger of parting ways, but marriage is real and takes work,” Brown said.
4) We'll learn a lot more about Deja, and even meet her father.
The Season 2 finale introduced the notion that Deja would soon join the Pearsons as a legally-adopted member of the family. According to co-showrunner Elizabeth Berger, we'll also see more of Deja's history, and meet her father: "Obviously, Deja has had almost no relationship with him, but she may know more about him than we previously let on," Berger told EW. "So, we’ll get to know a little bit more about what that relationship is moving forward."
5) We'll see how the Pearsons cope in the year after Jack's death
Last time we saw the teenaged Big Three, they they were dealing with the immediate aftermath of their father's death and his funeral. Executive producer and co-showrunner Isaac Aptaker promises we'll return to that period in time. "[Jack's death] happened in February of their senior year of high school, which is a seminal time no matter what," Aptaker told Glamour. "They also had this tragedy occur, which affects the rest of their lives, so we’re going to dive into that year where there’re so many stories to tell about the decisions they make[,] and the way they react to their father’s death shaped the trajectory for the next 20 years of their lives."
6) Rebecca and Miguel's relationship will come into focus.
Though we know Rebecca married Jack's best friend, Miguel, years after Jack's death, we don't know much about their courtship, or what their relationship is like now. That will change in Season 3, Aptaker told Variety. Miguel will attempt to help Rebecca with her children in the aftermath of Jack's death, and eventually, they'll reconnect years down the line, as we saw with Miguel's Facebook message earlier this season.
7) Season 3 will feature more flash-forwards—and they're bound to be devastating.
A highlight from the episode about Jack's death featured a peek into the future at a grown-up Tess, a social worker, and Randall. Last night's episode offered a more sinister look at that time period, with Randall and Tess discussing the difficulty of going to see "her." We have no idea who "her" is, or what they're talking about, but it seems very painful. Fogelman revealed at SXSW that this storyline is "ambitious and surprising," while Berger told EW, "I think we’re going to a really interesting and surprising place… Anything is possible."
8) Kevin and Randall will spend more time together.
The Pearson brothers have an amazing dynamic, and This Is Us is ready to take advantage of that. “There is something about the two brothers together, you see a lot of it in the finale, there is something so real about them as brothers," Fogelman said at the SXSW panel, according to People. "So I go ‘Sh*t, we need to get Randall and Kevin on camera more.’"
9) Toby's backstory will be explored as the show depicts his battle with depression.
The end of the Season 2 finale flashed one year into the future, to a scene of Toby lying in bed, clearly depressed, with Kate trying to help him. As Season 3 depicts how Toby got to that point, it will also deal with his history—including why his brother didn't go to his wedding, Berger told EW.
