The story of the Pearson family will continue for at least three more seasons. NBC officially announced This Is Us has been picked up through season six.
“In a television landscape with nearly 500 original scripted series, there are very few, if any, that have the critical and cultural impact of This Is Us and we couldn’t be more proud to bring fans three more seasons of a show that so well represents the NBC brand,” Lisa Katz and Tracey Pakosta, presidents of scripted programming at NBC Entertainment, said in a statement. “A huge thank you and congratulations to our executive producers, cast and crew who reach new heights every week with the show’s inventive and compelling storytelling.”
Each season will be 18 episodes.
The sixth season could be the show’s last, but NBC did not indicate as such in their announcement. In an interview with Deadline, executive producer Isaac Aptaker hinted the writers were planning on wrapping the story up within three seasons.
“From day one, [creator Dan Fogelman] came in with his master plan for the big picture stuff of the show and said, ‘I think this is where we end up. I think this is what I know. Let’s figure out the rest together.’ So all of the writers and the actors really know everything,” Aptaker said. “We’re all pretty good at keeping secrets by now, it’s been three years, but it’s a total open book for everyone who works on the show, so there are no secrets from each other.”
However, series star Milo Ventimiglia said the sixth season being the last is not set in stone.
“We never know where we’re going to go. We never know what’s going to happen,” he said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “The show could have a huge spike in season six and everybody wants more beyond that, but I think creatively, they have an idea of what they’d like to do to kind of wrap it up in this nice story.”
“At least the audience knows, the fans know, they’re going to get three more seasons, which is nice we can commit,” he added. “It’s not like, will it be on? Won’t it be on? But then beyond that, yeah, maybe there will be more. I don’t know.”
The third season of This Is Us averaged a 3.79 rating in the coveted 18-49 demographic and 13.8 million viewers.
This Is Us stars Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore , Sterling K. Brown, Chris Sullivan, Susan Kelechi Watson, Justin Hartley and Chrissy Metz.
This Is Us will return to Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC this fall.
(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)