(Spoiler alert: Please do not read on if you’re not caught up with “This Is Us”)
William may be gone but he won’t soon be forgotten, according to “This Is Us” star Ron Cephas Jones.
The actor also revealed the process of reading the episode “Memphis” was just as heartbreaking for him as it was for fans who watched it on TV.
“It killed me too,” Jones told TheWrap during an NBC press lunch Monday. “I was shocked, moved, I was in tears, I was in joy, every emotion that you had and the fans had, I had.”
William died at the end of the last episode that aired, succumbing to the Stage 4 cancer that had plagued him the entire run of the show, but luckily, the structure of the Dan Fogelman drama means that a death doesn’t necessarily mean the character is gone forever … or even gone at all.
As we know, Milo Ventimiglia’s character Jack, the patriarch of the Pearson family, is deceased in the present day storyline, but he is still integral to the plot and appears in nearly every episode in flashbacks.
Jones believes perhaps something similar could be in store for William in Season 2, and that there is more to explore in William’s backstory, particularly his romantic relationship with fellow recovering addict Jessie (Denis O’Hare).
“It’s been determined [William will return], but with a big question mark again,” he teased. “We will see him again, but we don’t know when, how, or where, or in what capacity. But I do know he’s going to be there next season. Like most fans, I pick and choose what I think they might write. Maybe the Jesse relationship, because he was in Chciago, so I’m sure he’ll come back and Randall will have to fill him in on what happened in Memphis. Maybe we’ll get a chance to see how that relationship becomes [what it is]. Maybe through dreams Randall has. Maybe through the postcard that he left for Beth that we’ll see in the next episode. There are so many little pockets of places where you could put his story.”
Jones also declined to confirm whether he would still be a series regular in Season 2.
“That’s more about contracts stuff, how many episodes. I wouldn’t know that until it’s time to sign,” he said. “I just feel like, whether you see him or not, he’s become a regular in the family, so in that sense, yeah he’ll be a regular. How many times you’ll see him, we’re not sure yet. But I know he’s coming back for a decent amount of time, I’m confident, I just can’t specify.”
“This Is Us” airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET, with the season finale episode set for March 14.