‘This Is Us’ Star Says Randall & Tess’ Future Cliffhanger Is A Heartbreaker For Season 3

The cast of This Is Us has another secret to keep. Just a few months after Jack Pearson’s (Milo Ventimiglia) heartbreaking cause of death was revealed, fans are reeling from the show’s Season 2 finale, which hinted at trouble for Randall Pearson’s (Sterling K. Brown) family.

The upsetting flash-forward scene at the end of the This Is Us Season 2 finale featured an older Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and his adult daughter Tess (Iantha Richardson) meeting at her office. When a sullen Randall told Tess. “It’s time to go see her,” she responded “I’m not ready,” to which Randall admitted he is not ready either.

The cryptic This Is Us scene spawned a social media firestorm as fans debated on who the “her” is. Most fans think Randall is talking about his wife Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson), his younger daughter Annie (Faithe Herman) or his foster daughterDéjà (Lyric Ross) in the scene, which appears to be set 15 to 20 years in the future.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, This Is Us star Chrissy Metz revealed that the cast knows the details behind the mysterious flash forward.

“It’s something you’d… nobody… it’s not good. It’s…no… it’s actually very heartbreaking.”

Many This Is Us fans think the exchange between Tess and Randall could be them talking about going to see Beth one final time before she dies. Others think they could be referring to Randall’s mom, Rebecca (Mandy Moore), who could be nearing the end of a fatal illness.

Fans may be able to count Beth as safe from an early death. In February, the show’s executive producer Isaac Aptaker told Glamour there were no plans to kill off the character and that rumors of her demise were untrue.

“Beth’s OK,” Aptaker told Glamour. “I don’t know where that came from, but there’s no conspiracy.”

But it is clear someone is in trouble. And if This Is Us fans dissect present day Randall’s speech at his sister’s wedding, it seems to tease that he could be talking about Déjà, who was last seen taking a baseball bat to her foster dad’s beloved Mercedes-Benz. Randall and Beth “chose” Déjà, so it should be noted that in the final scene he said the following.

“It’s taken me 37 years to accept the fact that there is absolutely zero point in trying to control the future. Because nobody knows where we’ll be. Not even a year from now. But what we can control, are the people we choose. Choosing our people is the closest we come to controlling our destiny. Because, while everything else may change, if you choose right, your people will stay the same. Whether that’s tonight, or a year from now, or 10 years from now.”

You can see the Tess-Randall cliffhanger in the This Is Us video below.

This Is Us returns to NBC this fall.