‘This Is Us’: Eris Baker Says She Didn’t Know About Her Character’s Flash-Forward Cliffhanger
This Is Us fans are trying to figure out the meaning behind the finale episode cliffhanger that featured an aging Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and his adult daughter Tess (Iantha Richardson) talking about going to see a mystery “her,” but even some stars of the show are still in the dark about the storyline.
The This Is Us Season 2 finale episode, “The Wedding,” ended with Randall telling a twenty-something Tess that it was time to go see “her,” with both of them admitting they weren’t ready. While Brown and his TV sister Chrissy Metz have gone on record as saying they know the details on the This Is Us mystery lady, series regular Eris Baker admits she did not know about the flash-forward scene.
Baker, who plays 12-year-old Tess in the present day This Is Us scenes, told PopSugar she didn’t know about her character’s flash-forward until she saw “The Wedding” episode on TV.
“I actually did not know about the flash-forward,” Baker told PopSugar. “I did know that there was going to be an older Tess. I did not that she was going to have any interaction with Randall at all. That was really surprising.”
Eris went on to reveal that she met her older alter ego after the scene was shot, adding, “She’s such a nice person, and it’s crazy how we look alike.”
Baker said she is looking forward to seeing her character grow in the flash forward scenes and is ready for Season 3 of the show to answer questions about Tess’s future self.
While This Is Us fans are trying to figure out which lady in Randall’s life will have a future tragedy—the most common guesses are his wife Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson), younger daughter Annie (Faithe Herman), or foster daughter Deja (Lyric Ross)—Eric Baker thinks the woman in trouble could be Randall’s mom, Rebecca (Mandy Moore). Based on the timeframe of the flash-forward, Rebecca would be in her early 80s during Randall and Tess’s exchange.
“My thought is that it’s going to be the mom or maybe the grandmother,” This Is Us star Eris Baker said.
This Is Us fans will have to wait a while longer to find out the meaning of the Tess-Randall flash forward, but Sterling K. Brown has already teased it will be part of a significant, ongoing storyline.
“[This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman] has a very keen understanding of what the beginning, middle, and end of our show is,” Brown told Entertainment Weekly. “When you see that flash-forward to the future, it will ultimately help to illuminate what the end of our story will be.”
You can see Eris Baker and Sterling K. Brown in one of their most memorable This Is Us scenes, as well as the This Is Us flash-forward scene featuring an adult Tess, in the videos below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CV5NsjhZ_E&t=221s
