‘This Is Us’: Milo Ventimiglia Says Don’t Assume Character Is Dead In The Present Day [Spoilers]

This Is Us threw viewers a major curveball at the end of this week’s episode “Brothers,” and now series star Milo Ventimiglia is giving some insight into his character Jack Pearson’s shocking family secret.

Spoilers ahead: Don’t read any further if you haven’t seen the “Brothers” episode of This Is Us.

At the end of Season 2, Episode 5, This Is Us viewers were introduced to Jack’s brother Nicky Pearson (Donnie Masihi), first in a flashback scene to the 1950s where young Jack promised to always be there for him, and later when an adult Jack unearthed a photo from his Vietnam days that showed his brother, also a soldier in his unit, wearing army fatigues. This Is Us fans immediately began to put together the pieces of Jack’s complicated family puzzle, with many assuming Jack’s issues with alcoholism stemmed from his brother’s presumed death in Vietnam.

Now, Milo Ventimiglia teases that may not be the case. In an interview with Variety, Ventimiglia said the reveal of Nicky Pearson adds a new twist to Jack’s life story, but nothing is set in stone about the mystery character’s life—or death.

Ventimiglia told Variety that This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman shared his idea of Jack having a brother earlier this season. And while he knows Jack’s relationship with Nicky greatly informed his past, that’s all he can say.

“The specifics on Jack’s relationship with his brother is still to be determined,” Milo said.

“[Jack’s] complications come, of course, from his past, but this reveal of him having a younger brother and specifically having a younger brother that we haven’t met in the present day, adds a lot of new questions.”

Milo Ventimiglia also declined to confirm that it should be assumed that Nicky Pearson died in Vietnam. Instead, he teased that maybe it was just Jack’s relationship with his brother that didn’t survive.

“We haven’t met his brother, he doesn’t talk about his brother,” Milo said.

“Did he die in the war? Did he die after? I think there’s still a lot of questions to be answered.”

Still, Ventimiglia added, “Knowing that Jack had a brother who was in Vietnam begs the question as to what was his involvement, and why was Jack cautious to say he was just a mechanic?”

Milo Ventimiglia also wouldn’t reveal if Jack’s wife and kids know about Nicky, saying, “You’re going to have to ask Fogelman about that one!”

While he can’t say what his character’s role in his brother’s life was, Milo did admit that Jack seems to have been “born as a protector.”

“Jack was looking out for his brother and looking out for his mother when maybe his father had his eye in a different direction,” Milo said.

This Is Us producer John Requa told the Hollywood Reporter that Nicky lives “large in Jack’s past and it ties into Jack’s psychology as we explore the issues that maybe contributed to his alcoholism.”

“The big thing is that he keeps secrets, that he has compartmentalized and hidden away this part of his life, which obviously was his brother, and it was a big part,” Requa told EW. “Obviously a major thing happened, some trauma of some sort,” he said.

This Is Us EP Glenn Ficcara also teased the Nicky Pearson storyline, telling Glamour that fans should remember this is This Is Us—so anything is possible. When asked if viewers can assume that Nicky Pearson is alive in the present day, the This Is Us producer said, “If This is Us has taught us anything, it’s never assume anything. It’s safe to say, though, that you’ll be surprised.”

Take a look at a promo for the next episode of This Is Us below.

This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.

[Featured Image by Ron Batzdorff/NBC]