It’s hard to say goodbye! This Is Us is about to end after six seasons — and fans are freaking out over Rebecca Pearson’s fate.
With the series finale set to air May 24, viewers are growing increasingly nervous that TV’s favorite mom (Mandy Moore) will die before the NBC drama ends.
After being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in This Is Us season 5, Rebecca has faced an increasingly difficult journey fighting the disease. Much of the show’s final story lines have centered around the Pearson matriarch’s slow health decline. With only two episodes left, it seems that another big death is likely.
Known for its jumps in time, This Is Us began to tease Rebecca’s death back in season 4 when the show featured a flashforward of the Pearson family gathering at Kevin’s (Justin Hartley) house in preparation for Rebecca’s passing.
In the May 9 episode of the family drama, that scene was recreated in the now-current timeline, causing an onslaught of terrified fans to worry that the penultimate episode would be Rebecca’s last.
“Okay, the good news is Rebecca didn’t die. Bad news is she’s dying next week instead,” one person tweeted at the time.
Audiences may not be far off with their theories. Creator Dan Fogelman recently revealed that the second to last episode of the show was hard for even the cast to handle — especially 38-year-old Moore.
“The second to last script – I sent [it] out to the cast and it made Mandy throw up,” the showrunner, 46, said during the drama’s PaleyFest panel in April.
The “Candy” singer explained, “It was so beautiful and upsetting. That was my physical reaction.”
Originally, fans assumed the Big Three’s mother would be around until the series ended, but following Miguel’s (Jon Huertas) death and Rebecca’s turn for the worse, they are now prepared to say goodbye earlier.
“This Is Us needs ALL the awards. The fact that I am ugly crying because Rebecca is about to die is crazy. The episode ain’t even come on yet,” one Twitter user wrote about the May 17 episode.
“Officially tomorrow is the day Rebecca Pearson dies, and obviously I will go to the afterlife with her,” another tweeted, despite no confirmation that Rebecca’s death was ahead.
Huertas seemingly hinted at an early passing for Rebecca when he spoke exclusively to Us Weekly in May.
“It’s gonna be hard. And as we’ve seen it in a lot of other stories that once two people who are older … once that life partner is taken away, there’s usually a pretty rapid decline. So we might see something like that with Rebecca moving forward,” the 52-year-old actor told Us.
While some viewers are worried Rebecca will die, others are theorizing about how it will happen and many are guessing she will reunite with first-husband Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) in the great beyond.
“Can’t believe tomorrow we’ll see Jack and Rebecca’s afterlife reunion,” a fan theorized.
Another perceptive Twitter user realized Rebecca’s death may come on May 17, which is one day after her wedding anniversary with her first love. “Rebecca dying the day after her and Jack’s wedding anniversary is SICK,” they commented.
Although the announcement about the series ending, which came in May 2021, was a sad one for viewers, longtime fans weren’t surprised since Fogelman has been straightforward throughout the years about his vision for the Emmy Award-winning show.
“We never set out to make a television series that was going to last 18 seasons, so we have a very direct plan. I have script pages I have written and I’m writing that really are deep, deep, deep into the future,” the showrunner told The Hollywood Reporter in 2019. “We have a plan for what we’re going to do, and I know what the plan is.”
That plan allowed the popular series to jump back and forth through time over the years, creating a tight story with a payoff that fans may cry their way through watching but one that Ventimiglia, 44, thinks people will ultimately be “very satisfied” with when all is said and done.
“As we’re reading the last several episodes … I’m starting to see loops closed where there was a moment or a story and it hits an end,” he told Us Weekly exclusively in February 2022. “It may not be happy — or it may be happy. It’s just the way that life works.”
This Is Us airs on NBC Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
