The Story Behind That Shocking 'This Is Us' Season Five Finale Ending

Uh, what is happening with Kate?!

The Story Behind That Shocking 'This Is Us' Season Five Finale Ending

Season five of This Is Us is in the books, and most of the finale episode—centered around Kevin and Madison's wedding—was somewhat uneventful, as many TV weddings are. It was a lot of commotion, nerves, and troubleshooting. But if you know anything about creator Dan Fogelman and This Is Us, nothing is ever quite what it seems.

On Madison and Kevin’s wedding day, Kevin is trying to make sure it's perfect for his future wife…until she begins to realize she needs to stop accepting “scraps” in her life and hold out for someone truly in love with her. While Kevin has done everything he can to be that guy, it's obvious there's something holding him back. By the end of the episode, Madison decides she wants and deserves more, and she calls off the wedding. As sad as it is, it's a beautiful scene between Justin Hartley and Caitlin Thompson.

Meanwhile, Rebecca and Randall have an emotional talk about the mistakes that were made when Randall was young. Rebecca apologizes for keeping the truth from Randall about his birth parents, but he sweetly assures her that he understands and it’s OK.

In other developments, Toby decides to accept a plum job in San Francisco that will take him away from Kate and the kids three days of the week. Kate isn’t crazy about that, but she decides to resign from her job as a music teacher to support Toby. That is, until she calls her gruff “boss,” Phillip (Chris Geere). He says she’s the best thing to ever happen to the students and won’t accept her resignation. Eventually, Toby and Kate decide they'll find a way to make both jobs work; in the process, they recommit to each other. These two appear more solid than ever.

As Kevin seeks comfort with the family, Rebecca assures her son that everything will be OK. In fact, she has an idea: build the house near the family cabin that Jack was planning before he passed away. Kevin's all in. Rebecca's elated.

And then, in the final two minutes, This Is Us does what This Is Us does best: It takes everything we thought we knew and twists it all up, leaving more questions than answers. But this time, we get a more concrete idea of what the future looks like for some of our favorite Pearsons.

Kevin is practicing a wedding speech in the mirror—a cute homage to The Princess Bride. It's the same speech that opened the episode, so you're not wrong to be confused. Was the last hour a dream? Not exactly. Turns out the episode started out five years in the future, then went back to present day. As future Kevin is putting on his suit jacket, he looks down at a magazine, earmarked to a profile on Randall that says “Rising Star.”

As Kevin walks down the hall, Nicky rushes by him, his hair slicked back, looking slightly older. Nicky mentions he’s running late because “the wife wanted stockings.” Is it Sally? Someone else? We'll have to wait until next season.

Moments later, Kevin enters a bridal suite, and Madison and Beth immediately rush him out of the room. “I told you 12 times this morning, no boys allowed,” Madison says playfully, to which Kevin counters, “I’m a 45-year-old grown man, thank you kindly!” Madison isn't in a wedding dress, and this isn't their wedding. They are, however, very playful and flirty, so one has to wonder whether they are back together. (We don't see their wedding fingers, naturally.) Most important, Kevin, Madison, and Beth appear not to have aged at all. Whatever face creams or futuristic device they're using, I want to know. 

And then, seconds later, when Kevin says he just wants to know if movie quotes or impressions are allowed in his speech, Kate walks out in a wedding gown and says, “Yes. Yes! This is the last time I’m doing this, so go crazy, brother.”

Um, what?!

Kate is getting married to—drumroll, please—Phillip, her colleague/boss/who knows what their working relationship is like five years into the future. One thing we do know: He’s now her fiancé. (I love Chris Geere, so I’m not entirely upset about this.) But obviously, Kate and Toby are now divorced, and I feel terrible for Katoby fans everywhere.

So as This Is Us approaches its final season (um, we’re going to have A LOT of ground to cover next year), Dan Fogelman got on a call to fill us in about what this all means going forward.

The You're the Worst alum will be a big part of the show next year, according to Fogelman. “We knew something was not ‘normal’ between Kate and Toby for some time, and here we are," he says of the reveal that Kate gets divorced in the future. “Kate's second wedding is a plot point we’ve had coming for some time, so we had Chris Geere meet with Chrissy Metz earlier in the season under severe COVID testing protocols so we could put them together. We're big fans of his.”

You're probably still in shock, and that's OK. “This show has always been about taking snapshots of a family’s existence at one period of time and then looking backward or forward and seeing how you get from point A to point B or point B to point A,” Fogelman says. "But ultimately, it’s an optimistic show. One of the things I loved about this finale was when you cut to that period in the future, everyone feels good. On first viewing, you’re registering the twist and the shock of what you’re seeing. On second viewing, you can see the feeling and smiles that exist in that moment. That was something we were trying to capture.”

Fogelman says all the actors have known for quite some time that Toby and Kate's marriage doesn't last. “There’s so much love there, both between the actors in real life and the characters on camera. Even if they don’t always love a choice I make for their characters, they don’t express it to me," he says with a laugh. “Chrissy and Sully are going to have some really meaty stuff to dig into next year. I think, like everything on our show, we’ll be able to find something difficult and find something beautiful inside.”

Fogelman says the show has always tried to put forth successful marriages, “but the honest truth is really loving, great marriages don’t always survive. And marriage is not for everybody.” Naturally, we'll have to wait and see what happens for Kevin, but Fogelman says he's rooting for his happiness. 

Speaking of which, Kevin and Madison seemed quite flirty in the flash forward, so what was Fogelman hoping to reveal in that moment? “The main takeaway should be, yes, despite the heartbreak of that beautiful scene between them and the unusual breakup between them, clearly something is very right with them in that future timeline at the end of the episode. To go beyond that, I can’t say. You’re not wrong for reading into the genuine affection, but outside of that is for next season to reveal.”

Each season of This Is Us is 18 episodes, but because of the pandemic, season five was shortened to 16 episodes. So does that mean the final season will be 20 episodes, to make up for the two they couldn't do this season? Or will it still be 18? “We haven’t gotten into that in great detail yet,” Fogelman admits. “It will ultimately come down to what the network wants from us. The 16 episodes this season were simply the nature of scheduling and room and our ability to get them out quickly enough. We were able to know that early enough so it didn’t really affect our storytelling.” 

Fogelman does reveal that they had planned on doing a “specialized” episode in season five, which will now get pushed to next season, “but not at the expense of anything else,” he says. So, in other words, stay tuned!

"We always knew season six would be ambitious in terms of the way the show jumps time, and even more ambitious than other seasons," Fogelman says. “But I think you’re going to have a real sense of resolution and completion for this family. We have been working tirelessly to set up this rewarding final season to make all the pieces fit together.” Fogelman says they know they owe the viewers a lot of answers, but that's always the been the game plan.  

“There will be no looming questions when we get to the end of next season,” he says. “The audience won't always like 100% of the decisions you make for your characters, but I don’t think anything will be left on the table. All those future timelines will get resolutions.”

For some time, fans have wanted to know how Miguel and Rebecca got together. We know that 10 years or so after Jack died, they reconnected over Facebook, but what drove them apart in the first place? And how long after they met up did things turn romantic? Fogelman says the show will be diving into those questions in season six. “That’s a big storyline. Mandy is going to have a tremendously ambitious season next year as an actress,” he says, referring to the character's battle with a worsening disease. “It’s going to be a quite a ride and quite a showcase. There’s really some really juicy stuff for our actors to dig into.”

“I can’t say much, but when you get a profile like that written," Fogelman says of the magazine article sitting next to Kevin's bed, “something is happening with his career and his profile growing. I think we’ll find a very centered Randall as we enter our final season.”

Viewers know Deja is pregnant some 10-15 years in the future, but don't know who the father is, or if he's involved. In the present day, Malik has been accepted to Harvard, which will obviously present some complications for their relationship. “It’s another area that I’m very excited about,” Fogelman says. "I have an episode I have been wanting to do for some time about adolescent first love and what becomes of that and how it forms you, so that’s one we plan on telling next season.”

When you have kids of all ages on a show like This Is Us, it's inevitable they're going to grow up before your eyes. Without revealing too much, Fogelman says some finale moments have already been shot (our guess is that it involves the big three when they were around 12 years of age). “I’ve always loved knowing an end point. Since the very beginning I’ve had a strong feeling of where I want this to end…the moments, images, scenes. I’ve had a list of them I’ve wanted to tell in a pretty specific order, and it’s a real gift to be able to execute them the way I want."

And in honor of the final season, NBC has released this video of the cast as they reminisce about the show that changed their lives and look ahead to an emotional and rewarding sixth season.

This Is Us will return in January 2022 for the final season.

Jessica Radloff is the Glamour West Coast editor. You can follow her on Instagram at @jessicaradloff14.

This story originally appeared on: Glamour - Author:Jessica Radloff