'This Is Us' Creator Dan Fogelman Says Jack's Death Is a Complicated Thing
This week's "This Is Us" dropped a piece of information regarding the much-cloaked death of Jack (Milo Ventimiglia). Via a snippet of the fan-favorite character's funeral, fans were able to find out that he died around the time that the Big Three are still in their teens. And even with the kids obviously already 36 at present time, the story suggests that they still harbor grief over the demise of their father.
All throughout the show's well-received debut season, Kevin (Justin Hartley), Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Randall (Sterling K. Brown) have dealt with the death of Jack in their own ways. Whether it is with Randall and Kevin being a little cold with Miguel (Jon Huertas) or Kate having quiet football nights with his dad's ashes, they all seem to still have hang-ups about his death. All these have mounted to the curiosity of the audience to know just what happened to the Pearson patriarch that eventually led to his death.
Unfortunately, creator Dan Fogelman is teaching fans a lesson in patience as he is adamant that it will take a while before they fully open the information gates regarding Jack's death. In an episodic post-mortem session with Entertainment Weekly, the TV boss related how everything that went down in the family tragedy resonates with the whole clan years after it has happened.
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"The how is going to take much longer to reveal. To me, even when you're watching the pilot, long before you knew Jack may not be in the picture in the present day, this family always felt loving and good but broken," he said.
While the whole picture may take a whole while to be complete, "This Is Us" promises a steady flow of bits and pieces to keep fans engaged in the particular plot arc. Especially so, when Jack, as a father, was obviously a big part of the Pearson kids' upbringing. Fogelman also hints that the inciting incident connected to Jack's death is more complex than usual which is why a long, slow burn for its reveal is necessary for a more effective impact.
"It's a complicated thing," he stated. "By the end of the season, you're going to know a lot of the details of the how and the ramifications of it. In terms of the detail of how he died, was it illness? Was it something tragic? Was it something else? You're not going to know that for a little bit because we want to show that in the show. So that's going to take a minute."
"This Is Us" airs every Tuesday, 9 p.m. ET, on NBC.
