This Is Us creator breaks down season 5's premiere twist
This Is Us season five spoilers ahead!
This Is Us mastermind Dan Fogelman has unpacked season five's game-changing twist.
In the two-part season opener, a retread of the very moment Randall (portrayed as an adult by Sterling K. Brown) was born played out, and viewers came to learn that his late biological dad William had come across Jack at the hospital twice.
An enormous revelation soon followed, though, as it was revealed that Randall's mum Laurel actually survived the drug overdose that everyone believed had killed her.
Related: This Is Us season 5 first look at filming teases "2020 sex scene"
Chatting to Entertainment Weekly, show creator Fogelman weighed in on the mechanics behind this twist.
"It's interesting that Randall has always viewed his identity story as a kind of battle between these two patriarchal figures of Jack and William. His closest relationship is with his mother and he's kind of a mama's boy with Rebecca, but his birth mother, Laurel, has just never been a door he's really opened up.
"I think it points to a bunch of things, but it was always something that in the back of our minds, we knew it was a part of Randall's story that would be explored towards the back half of his run," he continued.
And just like that, everything you thought you knew changes. #ThisIsUs pic.twitter.com/EPB109z7J7
— This Is Us (@NBCThisisUs) October 28, 2020
Related: This Is Us star teases what to expect from season 5
Fogelman went on to explain why this was "the last card that needs to be unfolded" for Brown's character.
"It felt like for a character who is constantly searching and constantly grappling with his identity, this is the last card that needs to be unfolded for him. And it's not just about: Is she alive in present day, or will he interact with her?
"It's more about: Will Randall get to learn her story? And if he does, what will that do for him?"
This Is Us airs on NBC in the US, and Amazon Prime Video in the UK.
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