This Update About Beth On 'This Is Us' Will Have You So, So Relieved
The summer doldrums are here, and with summer vacations come summer series, and the long wait until the fall when favorite shows like This Is Us return. The series ended Season 2 on a series of cliffhangers looking into the future. Things were going well for Kevin — he has a girlfriend, Zoe, and is going to research his father's past. Things weren't going well for Kate — Toby's depression is eating him alive. But what about Randall and Beth? Randall was shown, but not his wife. But Beth won't die on This Is Us, according to actress Susan Kelechi Watson. Everyone can rest easy. All the cast members will survive into Season 3.
Fans' worries stem from Randall's flash forward scene, which shows him without Beth. Instead, he's with their older daughter Tess, who is at least a decade older, if not two. “It’s time to go see her,” Randall says resignedly. Tess looks sorrowful and says, “I’m not ready.”
Randall sighs: “I’m not either.”
Who are they going to see? The big fear has been they're talking about Beth, suffering in the hospital, about to leave this earth. Or worse, going to see her headstone in a graveyard, with the character having passed away in the intervening time.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Watson teases: “I didn’t know that I was going to die.”
It didn’t even cross my mind, so when I saw people tweeting about it, writing articles about it, I was like, ‘Oh, they’re kidding!’ My first thought was, ‘Oh, this is hilarious.'
Watson refused to take it seriously until her own mother announced she was no longer going to watch the show because they were going to kill off her baby girl.
I was like, ‘Mom, they’re not going to kill me!’
Creator Dan Fogelman doesn't like spoilers. But in this instance, he made an exception and an understandable one at that.
Dan and I spoke about it — they’re not going to kill Beth. She’s going to survive. It feels good to know.
So it's good news, at least for now. When the show returns, Randall and Tess are definitely not going to look at Beth's gravestone or her deathbed in hospice.
But this still leaves a big question. Who are they talking about? Watson isn't telling.
I still think there’s mystery there, and I understand why. Dan would like us to keep it there, so I’m going to stay away from it! That’s as much as I can say.
Watson does assure fans there is an episode dedicated to her and her family in Season 3. It's an hour of This Is Beth, if you will, the same way there was an hour of This Is Deja last season. And if the way Watson brings it up is any indication, it may be spurred by the discovery her baby cousin, Zoe, is dating Kevin, the man who once drunkenly drove off with Tess in the backseat.
I think it will be very interesting, don’t you? I think she’ll have a lot of opinions on that... It’s great because it unfolds so slowly that it gives us time to really take our time with this story and not just get there so quickly. I like that about Beth and her storyline.
Speaking of Deja, her taking a Louisville slugger to both headlights of Randall's car is going to be a big problem next season.
It’s going to be that rough transition of dealing with that. And that seems to be a real thing, especially with feeling abandoned and wanting to be a part of your natural-born family, and what effect that has on Randall and Beth.
At least viewers can rest easy Beth will be there for it. This Is Us Season 3 returns this fall to NBC.