At a recent Television Critics Association press tour for the This Is Us finale, Fogelman explained why he decided to make Kate and Toby divorce to Parade. “First of all, we’ve always just tried to make the show about what happens to people, and divorce is something that happens almost as frequently as it doesn’t,” he said. “It hasn’t happened [yet] on this show.” Fogelman went on to explain that the great majority of love stories start with wonderful romances and marriages, and the ones that end in divorce often end in difficult, but widely differing, situations. “We’ve been talking a lot in our writers’ room about how marriages and divorces are like snowflakes; no two are exactly the same, but there can be commonality,” he said. “The way Toby and Kate always came together, I’ve always thought was beautiful and romantic, but it was also kind of imperfect. It was two people who often needed different things at different times and there were lots of conversations early on about whether they were good for one another.” In Season 6, the series has indicated that Kate and Toby’s current living situation definitely isn’t ideal: There’s now added pressure within the family (which includes their two toddlers) thanks to Toby’s 350-mile commute from Los Angeles to San Francisco for work. “There’s a beautiful script that’s been written, that I won’t say too much about, but that’s one of the ones I’m most proud of,” Fogelman continued. “I think the prism through which we view people and humanity in the show, and you can hear it from the actors talking about one another, is the people who work on the show believe that people are flawed and messed up and make terrible mistakes, but there’s a decency and a beauty to the human existence and the human experience. And if divorce is something that happens to 50 percent of marriages, I think you can assume that while divorce will be sad and ugly, we’ll find some way to also make it human and, in its own way, beautiful. And so that’s kind of what I can say about that.” He did add one more tidbit, though. “Mandy Moore’s directed recently a really beautiful episode that Chrissy co-wrote that starts this journey [to the end of Kate and Toby’s marriage],” Fogelman said. “We have some really big stuff for them coming up.” Unfortunately, Metz and Sullivan weren’t able to join the panel, so they were unable to comment. But their fellow cast members did chime in. “I was gutted,” said Susan Kelechi Watson, who plays Beth Pearson, while her TV husband Sterling K. Brown (Randall Pearson), added, “Be wary, be on guard. The s**t they have coming hits different.” This Is Us airs Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Next, Grab the Tissues! We Finally Know When This Is Us‘ Series Finale Will Air—Plus, All the Latest Spoilers
