This Is Us Season Four Fall Finale Recap: Isaac Aptaker Breaks Down Those Big Twists
Yeah, exactly. We had to make sure because we would get confused when we were writing it and we would have Rebecca get a text from Randall and then say, “Oh, no, no, no, wait, wait, wait, that’s the wrong timeline! She wouldn’t be getting that text!” It’s just a process of constantly remembering where you are in space and time to make sure that it all makes sense when you look back on it.
We know Rebecca lives another 10 or 12 years into the future, so how much will the show explore the journey of how her health progresses?
That’s a really good question. We’re committed to telling this story really accurately and as medically honestly as possible. We always have our experts and our consultants, both anecdotally people who have experienced it personally and also doctors and experts in the field. That said, we also are very aware of how sad this story is. Whenever we tell a sad story, we’re always looking for the silver lining for the moments of joy, for the moments of triumph. We’re going to be both accurate and as uplifting as possible while telling something that is incredibly, incredibly sad.
When is the next time we’ll revisit the storylines set nine months from now?
That’s the Big Three’s 40th birthday, which every season has started with, so that will be the beginning of our fifth season. It’s not going to be a super long wait to get the answers to all of the questions that we just flash-forwarded to. It’s really by the end of this season and the very beginning of next that we’ll be caught up to that moment.
In the scenes set nine months from now, Kate’s wedding ring is still on. Is it accurate to say that even though she might be having trouble with her marriage, so far it’s still intact?
Yeah. I think even if things are bad with Toby, nine months is an incredibly fast time to go from married to divorced, especially when you have a young child. I think people should definitely be aware and concerned about the fact that Toby wasn’t in that flash-forward but, yes, she is wearing a ring. I think that would be awfully fast for them to be divorced.
