‘This Is Us’: Game Over Until January—What To Expect When Season 2 Picks Up In 2018

Warning: This article contains spoilers from the fall finale of This Is Us, “Number Three.”

The This Is Us fall finale didn’t end with a cliffhanger, but it did end on an ominous note. In the final moment of the latest episode of the NBC drama, Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) looked in on his family as they gathered in the living room. The Pearson patriarch smiled at his wife Rebecca (Mandy Moore) as the camera panned to son Randall’s (Niles Fitch) just-finished game of Pac-Man, with the screen reading “Game Over.” No further clues on Jack’s death were given in the fall finale episode, “Number Three,” but there’s a sense the end is coming for Jack very soon.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Sterling K. Brown confirmed the end is nigh for Jack.

“Before the season is over, we see how Jack dies,” Brown told EW. “So I can say it will be within the next eight episodes of This Is Us.”

With only eight episodes left when This Is Us picks up in January, the Pearsons have a lot to address. As for Kevin’s (Justin Hartley) out of control spiral that ended with a DUI (with his young niece in the back seat of his car!), Brown says his TV big brother has definitely bottomed out.

“I would say that this is Kevin’s low point,” Brown told EW. The This Is Us star said Kevin left the house under the influence, not present enough to recognize that Randall’s daughter was in the car with him and that the ramifications will play out when the show returns in 2018.

“I don’t know, maybe I cut him some slack for that; maybe I don’t cut him some slack for that,” Brown said.

“But you have two brothers historically who have had a contentious relationship, who have constantly been working their way back towards one another. I don’t think Randall wants to throw all of that away, but it’s not going to be the easiest thing for him to do.”

As for when Randall will find out that his brother Kevin is in the throes of addiction, Brown says that confrontation will come in the first episode in 2018.

“I can tell you that is something that we address directly when we come back from our break,” Brown revealed.

“And it’s complicated because it has to do with the nature of why Kevin thinks he’s an addict, and it has to do with whether or not Randall validates his brother’s perspective…That’s about all I can say, except for the fact that we deal with it head-on in the next episode…In 2018, you see Randall working very hard to extend graciousness to his brother because his brother was present for him at one of the lowest points of his life, and now he wants to reciprocate that.”

According to the Hollywood Reporter, when This Is Us returns in January, the flashbacks will jump further back to the nine and 10-year-old Big Three (played by Parker Bates, Mackenzie Hancsicsak, and Lonnie Chavis). While there will be a “lighter, more fun episode set in the summertime,” it won’t be long before the show jumps forward to the late ’90s teen years and the Pearsons’ present-day drama.

“[We] come back in and deal with the thought of that arrest and what it does to the family,” This Is Us executive producer Isaac Aptaker told THR of Kevin’s DUI bust.

Aptaker also warned that the timeline will go back to the weeks following teen Kevin’s broken leg—the Number One Pearson son is wearing a cast when his father dies—and also Randall’s mystery girlfriend, who was seen when the teens find out their father is dead.

“We’re advancing the timeline and we are approaching the [death],” said Aptaker.

“We now have the dog and we have the leg in the cast. The last element that needs to fall into place before we can reach that day is Randall meeting the girlfriend that we see in [Episode 201]. If you’re keeping track, we’re definitely quickly approaching the time of his death.”

While Jack’s death story will be brutal, This Is Us fans can look forward to a special episode in February, on Super Bowl Sunday, which will hopefully contain a happier element. Brown said that while he has not shot any further scenes with Lyric Ross (the teen actress who plays Randall’s recently departed foster child Deja), the little boy that was shown waiting for a foster family at the end of the “Number Three” episode could play a significant part in Randall’s life right around the time of the show’s special Super Bowl episode.

“They’re adopting, but not immediately,” Sterling told Deadline of Randall and his wife, Beth. “In the episode you see a young boy talking to a social worker who is destined to join our family. You’ll see the manifestation of that story around Episode 214/215.”

This Is Us executive producer Isaac Aptaker told THR that the little boy could “quite potentially be the one that ends up in Randall and Beth’s house permanently.”

This Is Us returns Tuesday, Jan. 2 on NBC.