SALT LAKE CITY — “This is Us” creator Dan Fogelman admitted this week that he made a mistake when it came to showing the death of a beloved character.
On Super Bowl Sunday, “This is Us” fans witnessed the death of Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia), the humble and hardworking dad of the Pearson family.
Fans of the show have known about Jack’s death since the fifth episode of season one, but the events surrounding his demise were only recently revealed in the Super Bowl episode. Jack and his family were caught in a house fire. Though they escaped, Jack later died from a heart attack because of the smoke.
Fogelman told Vulture that he and the writers have been working toward that moment for years.
Indeed, fans of the show recognize that there have been a few nods to Jack’s death, one of which Fogelman regrets.
In one moment in that fifth episode of season one, Kate (Chrissy Metz) admits that she is to blame for her father’s death. The episode flashed back to Jack at a bar, calling teenage Kate (Hannah Zeile) from a payphone. People thought at the time that Jack would die in a drunk-driving accident.
Fogelman told Entertainment Weekly this week that he regrets that scene.
“That was a head fake on our part,” said Fogelman, who notes that he’d always been planning to resolve the mystery later in season 2. “While I thought it was like, ‘Oh, that’s cool, interesting timing,’ and people might think that’s coming, I didn’t realize the narrative around that moment would get so strong. If I could take back a moment, that’s the moment I’d take back, just to have slowed the spread of our story.”
Now, the show will look to move on after Jack’s death.
According to Elite Daily, Jack’s story on the show is only just beginning. Previews for the upcoming episodes indicate viewers will learn more about Jack’s childhood and his time serving in the Vietnam War.