Cast members of 'This Is Us' accept the Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series onstage during the 25th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 27, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.
Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

In 2016, NBC’s critically-acclaimed This Is Us premiered as the feel-good slash acutely heartrending dramedy weaving us all through the life of the Pearson family. The series, which stars Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown, Chrissy Metz, and Justin Hartley in the leading roles, is now sadly coming to an end. Sources have told The Hollywood Reporter that the network is set to announce the close of the Emmy Award-winning show after its upcoming 2021-22 broadcast season. Although fans are mourning the nearing farewell to a family they’ve adored through the screen as their own, the news is far from shocking. 

Creator David Fogelman has been very clear about the show’s conception as a limited-run series instead of following its possibility to join the veteran ranks alongside Law & Order at the network. However, fans remained hopeful that the remarkable ratings and steady attraction to the emotional rollercoaster of the Pearson siblings would cause for a reconsideration of the show’s duration. During its 2019 renewal for three additional seasons, including the final one, Fogelman reiterated the six-season arc saying, “We never set out to make a television series that was going to last 18 seasons, so we have a very direct plan.” Continuing his statement to THR, he said, “I have script pages I have written and I’m writing that really are deep, deep, deep into the future. We have a plan for what we’re going to do, and I know what the plan is.” Fogelman, who serves as showrunner alongside Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, has also previously told Deadline that the plan to wrap up at season 6 remains as “that’s when the Pearson story will basically come to a close.” 

The penultimate season of the series is currently airing and is slated to close out with its finale on May 25, giving fans a brief sabbatical to recollect themselves and prep for the heartbreak that is bound to ensue on Season 6. But if anyone is still reeling from the news and needs a glimmer of hope, as of late, NBC has not released its fall schedule to officially confirm on their end.