Here's When Fans Can Expect 'This Is Us' To Return In 2019

This Is Us Season 3's fall finale held all the major twists the series had generally been lacking over the first half of the year. Tess admitted to her parents she thinks she might like girls. Randall and Beth's marriage hit a wall. Kate was revealed to be having a girl, and Kevin discovered their uncle was alive, with a hint Nicky will turn out to be living in northern Pennsylvania. With so many questions left dangling, fans are frantically looking at the TV calendar for next year and asking: When does This Is Us return in 2019?

The good news is, unlike some series that end prior to Thanksgiving and then don't mosey on back until nearly February, NBC is quick off the mark to get popular shows back on the air after the turn of the new year. Manifest, for instance, is racing back to screens the day after the Golden Globes, on Monday, Jan. 7. This Is Us isn't returning quite so quickly, but it also stayed on the air a week longer than some of its competitors.

According to the new trailer for the next This Is Us episode, the show returns Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019, at 9 p.m. ET.

(This trailer has zero new footage, by the way, don't get too excited.)

As for what fans can expect when the show returns, series creator Dan Fogelman promises Nicky will be folded into the present-day timeline "within a couple of episodes." Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, he said:

From the point that we ended the entire episode on in present day to the point where we left Jack diving into the water: What the hell happened between then and now?... Our first episode back from the break focuses on what happened with our present-day characters between the break and the two months they have advanced their storylines that we’ve all missed. But then in the second episode back, it dives heavily into that question, filling in the blanks of what happened between Jack diving into the water and that shot of Nicky with the mail.

As for how vital Nicky is to the story going forward:

It’s significant. It’s a big part of the front part of the back half of our season.

But on the subject of anything else, Fogelman says,

There’s not a lot I can say, other than you’ll get all the answers very quickly when we come back on the other side.

NBC hasn't released any official information about the first installment when the show returns in January. Season 3, Episode 10 doesn't even have an official title yet, nor a synopsis. But this is about par for the course with This Is Us. Last year, information didn't arrive until after the new year. But when it did, it also had several promotional pictures to make up for it. So fans should settle in for a long wait until after the holidays have passed until new information (and hopefully a second trailer with footage) comes along.

This Is Us Season 3 returns with nine more episodes for this year, starting on Jan. 15, 2019, at 9 p.m. ET.