Warning: This post contains spoilers about This Is Us‘ series finale.
We did it, fellow This Is Us obsessives: We made it to the NBC series’ final flash-forward.
As those of you who’ve watched the popular drama for years know, the Pearson family’s saga has often zoomed past its present-day storyline to give us peeks into the future. One group of these glimpses was tied to Kate’s wedding to Philip. Another dealt with Rebecca’s final hours of life, the culmination of which unfolded in last week’s episode.
And a third dealt with Kate and Toby’s son, Jack. A flash-forward that began in the Season 4 premiere revealed that Jack grew up to be a highly successful singer/songwriter (so much so that we took to calling him Rockstar Jack to differentiate him from his grandfather, Jack Pearson).
Subsequent episodes showed us other snippets of Jack’s adult life, from a Thanksgiving meal that proved the Pearson holiday traditions lived on to the day that his wife, Lucy, delivered their daughter, Hope.
And Tuesday’s series finale gives us one more (fleeting) look at Jack’s life: This time, he and Lucy are pushing Hope on a swing, in a montage of other Pearson family members doing so with their kids. (Read a full recap here, then make sure to check out our post mortem chat with series creator Dan Fogelman.)
Why such a light touch on the flash-forward button in the finale, you wonder? “We never planned on living heavily in 2040 or whatever that year would be,” Fogelman told reporters during a call Tuesday. “Obviously there are more stories to be told in the adult lives of [The Big Three’s] children and grandchildren, but that was never the intent of the series. Every book has to end.”
And with that, we wrap our ever-expanding coverage of Jack’s adult life, chronicled in the gallery above. In it, you’ll find visuals, snippets of dialogue, clues and anything else we thought might be good to know — including intel from interviews with the NBC series’ stars and producers.
Flip through the gallery above — or go to it directly here — then hit the comments section with your thoughts about the series’ final episode!