As usual, season 5 of This Is Us left fans wanting more. During the finale, which aired in May 2021, there were lots of flashbacks and reveals, including how Kate Pearson (Chrissy Metz) and Toby (Chris Sullivan) are no longer together. Instead, she is now getting married to her music teacher boss, Phillip (Chris Geere).
Meanwhile, five years in the future, Randall (Sterling K. Brown) is getting some recognition in the media, while Nicky (Griffin Dunne) is married.
Despite all of the changes, Metz, 41, believes that season 6 — which airs on Tuesday, January 4 — will end on a high note.
“I do think [fans] will find some closure and some contentment with what transpires and how [creator] Dan Fogelman wraps everything up,” the actress told Page Six. “Oh, [Kate’s] gonna have a season! I think that’s what’s so amazing, is the way that they both have impacted each other’s lives. You keep that with you forever. You’re forever changed by moments and memories and people.”
“So, I think they’ll always be in each other’s lives and always respect and love each other. But the unraveling, it’s going to be hard, and I think people are going to understand that nobody’s right, nobody’s wrong. It’s like, you either grow together, or you grow apart,” she said of Toby and Kate’s bond.
Sullivan added that the finale “will be comforting and it will be satisfying,” and “Toby’s going to be fine. It’s going to hurt, but he’s going to be fine.”
“We’re going to land this plane, everyone’s going to be taken care of, and every storyline’s going to get wrapped up in a nice bow,” he continued. “Everyone should be satisfied – even if it’s not ending the way they want it to.”
Sullivan understands that fans will be upset that the NBC hit show is coming to an end after six wonderful years. “Life hurts 50 percent of the time. And I think when we’re hurting, we forget that life is excellent the other 50 percent of the time,” he said. “And then when it’s excellent, we kind of think it’s never going to hurt again, and then when it hurts again, we’re disappointed. But this is the way it goes.”
Metz hasn’t processed that she will be saying goodbye to Kate in the near future. “I personally cannot be mentally prepared for something that’s completely changed my life in ways that I never, ever, ever thought it would,” she shared.
Bring on the tissues!
This Is Us season 6 premieres on Tuesday, January 4, on NBC at 9 p.m. ET.
