Entertainment

These Details About Beth & Randall In The 'This Is Us' Flash-Forward Will Wreck You

NBC

This is Us returned this week, and with it came much of America's weekly Tuesday night crying session. Luckily, Randall and Beth patched things up after their cliffhanger fight at the end of the mid-season finale that left Randall sleeping on the couch. But even though things are OK up on the Randall-Beth front in the present timeline, there are now some new hints about the This is Us flash-forward that will absolutely wreck you.

Ever since fans got their first glimpse of the future in the Season 2 finale, they've been itching for more information about where the dear Pearson clan is headed. That finale showed us a greying Randall and an adult Tess preparing to visit a mysterious "her," who we've since learned is Pearson matriarch Rebecca. But there's still a question about the state of Randall and Beth's relationship in the future. Right now the couple seems fine, but the flashes to the future that we've seen so far have an ominous tone. They show Randall and Beth in separate locations and Randall asking Tess to call her mother instead him calling her himself.

Sterling K. Brown, who plays Randall, told Entertainment Weekly that fans can expect some strong emotions in the characters' future. When talking about the flash-forward family affair, Brown said:

It’s an intense situation that is shrouded in sadness. It’s a rough thing that people are coming together for.

Oof. Since we know Rebecca is "her," the Pearson family could easily be coming together around her during some kind of emergency that Beth would show up for whether or not she and Randall are still together.

NBC/Hulu

When asked for specific details about Randall and Beth's situation, Brown was especially coy, saying he couldn't reveal much or else "I’d ruin the whole thing.” He did offer the very ominous statement that their love is forever, without specifying whether or not their relationship will always remain intact. “They always… and never stop loving each other," Brown said.

So just when Randall was welcomed back into bed with Beth and you thought all was well, there's still a high likelihood of heartbreak in the future. Although, what else would you expect from This is Us?

The creator and showrunner of This is Us, Dan Fogelman, told EW that the future timeline we've been seeing is most likely what the very end of the whole series will look like. He said:

I don’t imagine us going past this time period in the future so in terms of a timeline, this is our ending timeline. But we may have other past timelines we’re going to introduce in the course of the series, and also other future story lines that we might introduce as well.

Since these flash-forward scenes are showing audiences what will likely be the end of the Pearsons' story, audiences can probably expect some closure for the family in this "rough thing that people are coming together for." Susan Kelechi Watson, who plays Beth, said "something very complete happens in that moment." For all the Randall and Beth fans out there, hopefully that completion includes the solidification of their relationship. Otherwise, fans better get their tissues ready.

Season 3 of This Is Us continues on Tuesday, Jan. 22, at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.