Before This is Us has its season-three premiere next week, NBC decided to show us how its mega-popular family drama first took shape. In a just-released clip, audiences get a glimpse into the fateful auditions that led to the casting of Milo Ventimiglia as Jack and Chrissy Metz as Kate. Courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, the video features Ventimiglia describing how he noticed the show’s mastermind, Dan Fogelman, in the back of the room “literally just smiling” after his audition. Ventimiglia also remembers thinking that the smile likely meant that he had done his job. He was right.

The clip also offers us a look at Metz’s audition for Kate. While Ventimiglia had a pretty established career when he auditioned for Jack, Metz was virtually unknown. But one look at her audition, and it’s easy to see why Fogelman decided to make her one of the show’s emotional anchors. In the clip Metz walks fans through her state of mind as she endured what would ultimately become a life-changing audition—at just the right time. “When I booked This Is Us, I had 81 cents in my bank account,” she told Glamour in February. “I could cry right now just thinking about it.”

The audition clips will air as part of The Paley Center Salutes This Is Us, a one-hour special featuring interviews with Fogelman and its stars, including Metz, Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown, Susan Kelechi Watson, Justin Hartley, and Chris Sullivan.

And while This Is Us was shut out at Monday night’s Emmy Awards, it continues to be a ratings juggernaut. The hugely anticipated third season is set to premiere on Tuesday, September 25. But if you can’t wait that long, be sure to watch The Paley Center Salutes This Is Us, Tuesday on NBC.

Related: All Your ‘This Is Us’ Season 2 Finale Questions Answered

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