Could Season 7 be on the cards for the NBC drama This Is Us? Here is everything that has been said on the prospect of a new season, spin-off, or sequel movie.
The award-winning series ran for six seasons from 2016 to 2022, chronicling the tale of the Pearson family over the years. This Is Us just recently returned to the limelight after it started streaming on Netflix in January.
Is This Is Us Returning for Season 7?
Speaking at a Television Critics Association press event in February 2022 during the airing of This Is Us Season 6 - via NBC - creator Dan Fogelman explained how it is "hard ending something you love:"
"It's hard ending something you love, so I don't know that everybody feels right now it's the right place to end it. Because I think if we could all snap our fingers and just magically have more of this, we probably would."
He added how Season 7 is not happening "not because [they] don't have any more story to tell," but since the team had "exactly planned it to go this way."
Fogelman stated how This Is Us set out on a "five-year path" and it "wouldn't be quite responsible to the show" to deviate from said plan:
"And so we're on a five‑year path, and to suddenly pivot and add more because we don't want it to end, it wouldn't be quite responsible to the show and what we have planned, and it would start becoming something else."
That said, speaking to TVLine in May 2022 around the time of the series finale, Fogelman offered some glimmer of hope, jesting how "who knows what change of heart [his] ensuing midlife crisis" could bring:
“I’m pretty set on this being it. Who knows what change of heart my ensuing midlife crisis brings, but I really feel we’ve put these stories to bed now.”
As always in the television business, money and viewership are king. So perhaps This Is Us could find a future if it proves to be a Netflix hit. For example, Suits topped the streaming charts last year after coming to the service almost four years after the series finale, and now a Los Angeles-set spin-off is in development.
Could This Is Us Return in Another Form?
While Dan Fogelman does appear to be closing the door to This Is Us Season 7, at least for now, perhaps the Pearson family story could continue in another form, such as a spinoff series or a sequel movie.
Kate Pearson actress Chrissy Metz offered a proposition for a spinoff to Entertainment Tonight, suggesting a series "somehow affiliated with the [Pearsons]" where they would "come in and out:"
"It might be a cool spinoff to have a family that was somehow affiliated with the family—the Pearsons—but not necessarily directly related. And maybe we could sort of come in and out. As they came in and out of our story, we could come in and out of their story. That would be kind of cool to have another family."
But Fogelman appears less set on a This Is Us spin-off, having told Variety how, following the end of Season 6, "the stories of these characters are told" meaning there is "no real spinoff" to be done:
“Once you’ve seen the completion of Season 6, the stories of these characters are told. So there is no real spinoff because you kind of know everything."
And while he left off with a "never say never, the general sentiment was that Fogelman doesn't "see [himself] picking this thing back up:"
"Is there another play for the show? I guess you’d never say never, but I don’t see it. It’s personal to me, and I don’t see myself picking this thing back up.”
During the same Television Critics Association press event previously discussed - via Variety - Fogelman appeared more open to a This Is Us movie, stating how he "[says] no to nothing" and if they can "figure out a movie down the road" he would be interested in reuniting the cast and crew:
"I say no to nothing. If we can figure out a movie and can get together with [the cast] again in a few years, I’d love to. I don’t know what it would be because we close out our story in the series finale.”
However the series creator was less confident in his ability to reunite This Is Us' six main actors for a follow-up, expressing his suspicion they will be "flooding your TV and movie screens in years to come" and will be "very busy:"
“I suspect that these six actors on your screen right now, as well as those two who are missing [Chrissy Metz and Chris Sullivan], are going to be flooding your TV screens and movie screens in years to come. I suspect that, when I want to do something again for ‘This Is Us’ with these guys, they’re going to be very busy.”
Fogelman proposed a movie that could explore “what would have happened if Jack survived the fire,” referring to the Season 2 death of the Pearson family patriarch from smoke inhalation in the aftermath of a house fire.
He even added, “The president of NBC is literally texting me right now: ‘Yes to the movie.'” So, it certainly appears This Is Us network NBC would be interested in a movie if Fogelman were to come around on the concept.
All six seasons of This Is Us are streaming now on Netflix.
