Rebecca's Alzheimer's Storyline On 'This Is Us' Will Continue In Season 5, According To Producers

This Is Us' penultimate Season 4 installment ended on a cliffhanger. The episode, titled "New York, New York, New York," had Pearson matriarch Rebecca make the first selfish decision of her life. She didn't want to miss out on the lives of her children on a prayer of a cure. She would not go to St. Louis for the Alzheimer's clinical trial Randall suggested. But only one episode later, "After the Fire," ended with Randall forcing her to change her mind. So what will Rebecca do? The This Is Us producers confirmed Rebecca's story in Season 5 would see her travel. Warning: Spoilers for This Is Us Season 4 follow.

Fans already have seen part of Season 5's premiere in a flash-forward from earlier this season. The triplets' birthday will be at the cabin, sans Randall, who is not speaking to his siblings. Kevin and his mystery pregnant fiancee will be there; Kate will also be there, with Baby Jack, but not with Toby. Miguel and Rebecca are also on hand, and Rebecca will have a memory episode bad enough the cops have to bring her home.

But if Rebecca is at the cabin, does that mean Randall ultimately loses the argument? Does she not go to St. Louis?

Not so fast, say the This Is Us producers. Randall has won, at least enough for his mother to try it. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, executive producers Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker confirmed Rebecca is heading to St. Louis.

But whether or not the treatment will have any effect, or if Rebecca will complete it, is an open question, considering she's agreed to it under duress. As Aptaker puts it:

That’s going to be a big question for Season 5, because that's when we're going to really launch into that. But she's going into something not totally because she wants to but... because she's been manipulated. So that makes it a much more fraught departure and entry into this new city and this new world than it normally would have been otherwise. And she's really found a new connection with Kevin. She's enjoying being around her grandson every day. She's giving up a lot, so it's going to make it not an easy departure for her as she as moves into this new city.

Fans go in knowing Rebecca eventually will succumb to her disease. But those days are still decades out. For now, it's enough to see how Rebecca likes St. Louis, and how her treatment will go.