The creator of “This Is Us” explains the poetic final scene of the series

This story contains spoilers for the series finale of “This Is Us”.

“This Is Us” took a simple route when it was time to close the six-season book — and it was all by design.

Tuesday’s Series Finale concludes a brilliant six-season run with a quiet moment of remorse. A long time ago, Pearson’s young family, where Jack and Rebecca led a little big three, enjoyed a lazy Saturday. Now, the adult Big Three is looking to the future, saddening the loss of his mother on his funeral day.

The last image was simple in concept and execution. Young Randall was watching his father Jack, who was having fun with his family every second on that lazy weekend, and Jack and Rebecca came back together on the train and went far away.

“In that shot, I thought the older Randall showed a grown-up child or a fully-grown child, and Miro. [Ventimiglia] At that moment, he represents the parents of the whole family. I wanted the simplicity of the shot that the child would accept the parent at the moment the parent was embracing something bigger and knew that the child would take over his life. It wasn’t the moment about the two men who were at the heart of our show … not about Randall and Jack, but about the kids and parents at that moment, “said creator Dan Fogelman. “This Is us”.

And for him, it was always Jack and Rebecca, the catalyst of his life after that, and he intended to end with the words of their final dialogue.

“In the depths of my heart, I’ve always thought that the actual scripted conversation at the end of the episode was simply saying that Jack and Rebecca” love “each other. Technically, there are other dialogues in the background of the “Pin the Donkey’s Tail” game … but the show is always about family and time, and how families love each other. This original love story was emotionally the right word to end, “Vogelmann said. “And the last shot is a version where the child takes the parent and moves something forward from what the parent sees. I knew the last two things, the last word and the last image.”

But Vogelmann recalled that it was particularly difficult to write these last scenes, which are forever related to the end of the era. (Interesting facts: many of the scenes of The finale was filmed many years ago. )

“By the end of the script, I already …” had an interior living room. Jack is now sitting on the couch, and his family is laughing, wrestling, and playing “pin the donkey’s tail.” He accepts them because they have their tails fixed to the donkey. He wrote the rest of the words, so he already wrote those words two months ago. When I started writing the conversation between Jack and Rebecca’s Anna’s Last Train scene in the document, it really started to reach me during the moment it was already filmed and the script was written, “Vogelmann told ET. I made it.

“It was that moment [Jack] Say,’We did well. You did very well, “he shared. “For me, a new parent and parents, the idea of ​​sitting at the end of the day and being told” well done “just took me between what I already had the visuals on. .. “

Details from ET:

Sterling K. Brown shares a photo of Rebecca’s funeral on “This Is Us”

“This is us” fans react to Rebecca’s death in the penultimate episode

“This Is Us” is preparing to say an emotional farewell to Rebecca