This Is Us Spinoffs Every Fan Wants To See
As "This Is Us" embarks on its 6th and final season, fans are bracing for an emotional goodbye to the Pearson family –- but is it for good? The Emmy-winning NBC drama has featured a supersized cast of characters -– both past, present, and future –- so there's an abundance of spinoff opportunities that could pop up once the original series wraps.
Series star Mandy Moore told E! News she'd be up for working with her "This Is Us" co-stars as she pointed to revivals of shows that didn't end that long ago. "Are we going to be doing 'This Is Us' the reboot in six years? I would be game to do anything that would reunite me with everybody here," she said.
Fans have already been buzzing about the possibility on social media. In a Reddit thread, viewers discussed the idea of a spinoff featuring 'The Big Three," Kevin, Kate, and Randall's kids in the future. And Cinemablend offered up several other spinoff ideas, including a show about Randall and Beth Pearson's (Sterling K. Brown and Susan Kelechi Watson) three daughters, Tess, Annie, and Deja. ("The New Big Three," anyone?) The outlet even pitched an idea for a spinoff of the show-within-a-show, "The Manny," starring Kevin Pearson (Justin Hartley). On "This is Us'" final season, Kevin has already agreed to do a "Manny" reboot, so why not let fans see it happen for real?
Jack Pearson is one of the most popular This is Us characters, but a spinoff would be a stretch
Milo Ventimiglia's Jack Pearson is one of the most beloved characters on "This Is Us," so a spinoff about his character would be a no-brainer, right? Well, not exactly. Ventimiglia has been gung-ho about the possibility of a "This Is Us" spinoff — just not one starring him. In 2021, the man who plays the Pearson patriarch told Extra TV that a spinoff would probably happen down the line. "I'm sure there will be," he said when asked about a future show. "I don't know who it will be [about]."
Jack Pearson was killed off in the second season of "This Is Us," but he has been featured in flashback scenes set in the 1970s, '80s, and '90s. While fans would love to know more about the Pearson patriarch, even Ventimiglia has admitted that he doesn't think he could pull off a spinoff with his character, mainly because the guy's life ended in the 1990s. And let's face it, while Ventimiglia is handsome, he's not aging backward. "I don't know if Jack storylines will hold or carry through," Ventimiglia told ET Canada. "You can absolutely tell a Kevin-Randall-Kate story. You can absolutely tell present-day stuff."
Chrissy Metz pitched an idea for a spinoff of a family that is 'affiliated' with the Pearsons
Chrissy Metz's Kate Pearson has been featured in "This Is Us" storylines about music, mental abuse, motherhood, and marital strife. But she cast doubt on the possibility of a Kate-centric spinoff. "I don't know if that is possible or that's something that's in anybody's mind," she told Entertainment Tonight in an interview. But Metz did pitch an idea that could potentially bring back some of the Pearson characters for guest appearances. "It might be a cool spinoff to have a family that was somehow affiliated with the family — the Pearsons — but not necessarily directly related," she said. "And maybe we could sort of come in and out. As they came in and out of our story, we could come in and out of their story. That would be kind of cool to have another family."
Over the show's first five seasons, fans have been given glimpses of other families loosely related to the Pearsons. Everyone from the firefighter (Brian Obla) — who found an abandoned newborn Randall and brought him to a hospital nursery in 1980 — to Dr. Eli Mason (aka Madison's OB/GYN, played by Josh Hamilton) and his horse-loving daughter Sadie (Glory Joy Rose) has been shown outside of the Pearson compound.
"This Is Us" creator Dan Fogelman didn't totally shut down Metz's suggestion of a spinoff based on a family outside of the Pearsons. "If my brain goes there ... it just doesn't go there necessarily with the Pearson family," Fogelman said of an offshoot series when talking to the Hollywood Reporter's "TV's Top 5" podcast in late 2020.
Sterling K. Brown is unsure about a Randall-focused series
Sterling K. Brown's Randall Pearson character is an up-and-coming politician in Philadelphia — in the present day, at least — but the actor isn't sure that's enough to warrant a full series about the city councilman. Brown told Us Weekly he would only consider a spinoff if the current showrunner was involved. "If Dan Fogelman is a part of it, it's something that I would absolutely have to consider," he admitted. "I love this character so it's been such an important part of my career, but I also look forward to all the other characters living inside of me having an opportunity to find their way."
But what about a series based on Randall's wife, Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson)? Fans have already learned her backstory; she grew up in Washington, D.C., and has a cousin, Zoe, who's like a sister to her. But in the final seasons, Beth also realized her dream of opening a dance studio, which could offer opportunities for a dance-themed spinoff. Kelechi Watson told TVLine that Beth's dancing days are done, but she also teased an upcoming episode about her character's studio that sounds like it could spawn something. "I pass the torch," she said. "There's some dancers in the episode, yeah, and I'm sort of passing the torch along. " Hmmmm.
Justin Hartley has a big-screen reboot idea
Forget those tiny spinoffs. Justin Hartley wants to jump from TV to the big screen, just like his "This Is Us" character Kevin Pearson did when he quit 'The Manny" and went on to do a Sylvester Stallone flick. Hartley told Access Hollywood he knows of multiple co-stars who would be open to continuing "This Is Us" via a movie — or three. "I know six other actors that would do the movie, probably," he said. "Yeah, I think we could probably pull that off. I'm down for a 'This Is Us' movie, sure. I love these cats. I would do a trilogy movie, I really would. I would do a movie every year with these guys."
Hartley's TV brother Sterling K. Brown also weighed in on the idea of reuniting the cast for a movie. "We totally could," he told E! News. "I could definitely see them promoting it. Like, we've seen the 'Sex and the City' joints, there's an 'Entourage' joint, if they can do it, why the hell not?"
Dan Fogelman has the final say on a spinoff — and for now he's saying no
Alas, despite all the wishful thinking regarding a spinoff, "This is Us" showrunner Dan Fogelman has been pretty clear that a spinoff is not in the works and that he intends to wrap up all of the loose ends on the show for good with the final season. As he started work on the show's 6th and final season, he wrote on Twitter, "Whoever casually first said 'All good things must come to an end' never had to end their favorite thing."
If that doesn't sound final enough for you, Fogelman told Variety that he has actually been approached about a possible spinoff, but that the final season leaves little left to explore. "Once you've seen the completion of Season 6, the stories of these characters are told," he teased. "So there is no real spinoff because [viewers will] kind of know everything. Is there another play for the show? I guess you'd never say never, but I don't see it. It's personal to me, and I don't see myself picking this thing back up."