The Cast of ‘This Is Us’ Can’t Stop Talking About This Upcoming Episode

The Emmy nominee will also direct for the first time in season six, and it just so happens to be the Kate-centric episode. “It’s all her and Toby. It’s such an incredibly written episode, and I’m so grateful that Dan [Fogelman] is letting me do it.”

Kate Pearson

There’s still a lot that we don’t know about what’s to come for Kate, especially since we haven’t seen her at Rebecca’s bedside some 15 years in the future. While Chrissy Metz says we’ll have to wait until the latter half of the season to get those answers, we’re going to learn much sooner what causes the breakdown of Kate and Toby’s marriage. “The episode that I got to [cowrite is] is a real turning point in Kate and Toby’s relationship,” Metz teases. “It’s going to be beautiful and wonderful and sad and heartbreaking and all the things.”

Or, as Sterling K. Brown tells me with enthusiasm, “I’m really blown away by [the] Kate and Toby [episode]. The shit is sick! Sick!” 

Whatever happens, at least we know Kate is eventually happy with Phillip, and Metz thinks viewers will root for the surprise pairing. “Chris Geere is very charming and very talented, [but] it’s hard because it feels weird,” Metz says of having a new love interest. Still, “we’re going to discover who Phillip really is. He’s starting to warm up. And she’s not all the things that he thinks she is. He comes to really like and respect her, so we’ll uncover all that.”

Toby Damon

Meanwhile, Chris Sullivan tells Glamour that “Toby’s getting serious about what he wants from his life, what he wants from his relationship, and what he needs from his partner to be the fullest version of himself” this season. He also concedes that every relationship isn’t meant to last forever. “There are seasons in life, and there’s nothing wrong with moving on from a relationship if you are able to do it in a  compassionate and loving way,” he says. “You don’t have to blow up your life to end a relationship. Took me a while to learn that in my life. There’s lots of lessons to be learned. This is us, you guys.”

As for that Toby and Kate–centric episode that Sterling K. Brown teased, Sullivan reveals, “It’s going to be the biggest challenge yet for Chrissy and I, but I’m really excited about it. There’s a bit of a magical quality to the episode that will be hard to explain until you see it. I’m really excited about it.”