NBC has finally released the first look at the sixth final season of “This Is Us,” and we’ve already got the feels of losing the Pearson family.
In the photos, which Entertainment Weekly first published Thursday, we see Randall (Sterling K. Brown), Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) and his family celebrating his 41st birthday — the standard starting point for a new season of “This Is Us.”
But what we don’t see is Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Kevin (Justin Hartley) also enjoying their shared big day, and the Pearson family appears to be scattered on the occasion.
There’s a glimpse of Kate and her future husband Phillip (Chris Geere) at the music school for the blind where they work — but no sign of her current husband Toby (Chris Sullivan). Meanwhile, Kevin is all on his lonesome in the city — and there’s no sign of his now-ex Madison (Caitlin Thompson) and their twins.
Flashing back in time, we get an adorable look at Rebecca (Mandy Moore) and Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and the little Big Three.
“The show has always been challenging with the plays in time, and we always knew that Season 6 would be epic in terms of the way it jumps time, and even more ambitious than other seasons,” “This Is Us” creator Dan Fogelman told TheWrap and other outlets during a conference-call interview about the Season 5 finale in May. “Because our audience has been so devoted and I think because, hopefully, we’ve smartly set up the contained areas where these future timelines live, I think you’re going to have a real sense of resolution and completion for this family. It’s the mixed-up VHS tapes of this family’s existence that will kind of all coalesce to speak to one another in completion.”
Fogelman added: “We have been working tirelessly to set up this rewarding final season to make all the pieces fit together. We know what we owe. We know what our plan is. That’s been part of the great benefit of, from the very beginning with the early success of the show, allowing us to kind of know our endgame, and has allowed us to build what we hope will be a very rewarding final season.”
See the the first-look photos for the sixth and final season of “This Is Us” below.
“This Is Us” Season 6 premieres Tuesday, Jan. 6 at 9/8c on NBC.