‘This Is Us’: Mandy Moore Says Rebecca And Miguel’s Courtship Won’t Play Out In Season 2

This Is Us fans recently got a small hint as to how Rebecca (Mandy Moore) and Miguel (Jon Huertas) ultimately get together as a married couple, but it will be a while before all of the pieces of the puzzle come together. In the most recent This Is Us episode, “The 20’s,” Rebecca received a Facebook friend request from her late husband’s best friend, Miguel, after not talking to him for eight years. It was also revealed that Miguel had moved far away from Pittsburgh to Houston. But now, it sounds as though This Is Us fans will be left hanging in the year 2008 as the Rebecca-Miguel story arc remains in limbo for the rest of the season.

When asked if she has started filming any scenes that pick up from the Facebook messages, Mandy Moore told Glamour she has not.

“And I don’t think that’s going to be addressed until next season,” Moore told Glamour. “That’s what I’ve been told.”

Moore did offer some insight into how she thinks the seed for her character’s relationship with her second husband was planted, saying she believes Rebecca was “in a terribly lonely spot” after her husband Jack’s (Milo Ventimiglia) death.

As for whether or not Miguel’s ex-wife, Shelley (Wynn Everett), gave the future couple her blessing, Moore said the potentially awkward dynamic will be addressed next season.

“[This Is Us creator] Dan [Fogelman] has told us that season three will focus a lot more on Miguel and Rebecca’s courtship, so I’m absolutely positive that Shelly will factor in,” Mandy said. “They are friends, and they are somewhat close friends. I don’t think they’re best friends, but I’m curious what happened there. At one point the couples were friends, so that’s a mystery to me.”

While she is unsure of Miguel’s ex-wife’s present-day status, Moore admitted that it would feel “a little too convenient” for Shelly to have passed away.

Mandy Moore has said she feels that the Facebook revelation has at least given viewers a chance to try to “embrace” Miguel a little bit more. From the early episodes of the show, many This Is Us fans have disliked Miguel due to the fact that he married his dead best friend’s wife. Mandy said she hopes the eight-year time span in which Rebecca and Miguel lost touch is enough to make This Is Us fans realize Huertas’ character didn’t just swoop in on his late friend’s widow.

“Can the world like him now?” Moore asked Entertainment Weekly.

“I feel like this is a clear indication that the world can slowly start to embrace Miguel. This was a new revelation to us as well that was not something I was expecting. I mean, I had my own thought in my mind about when they sort of found each other, but I was clearly as surprised as the audience was to read that at the end of this episode…. And I feel like it opened up a whole new line of questioning.”

Moore said she is unsure why Rebecca and Miguel lost touch, but that it is more important to focus on the fact that they didn’t get together until after 2008.

“This long period of time went by,” Mandy said. “I think they were still definitely involved in each other’s lives obviously after losing their best friend and her spouse. I think that in my mind, the family leaned on him and I think he really stepped up as a best friend would to help make sure that the family was okay and staying on the right track, but I still like to believe that nothing crossed that line until this point in time.”

Mandy Moore also said that she feels Rebecca was really caught off guard by the Facebook message from Miguel.

“I don’t think that she ever thought that this is somebody that would reach out to friend-request her,” Mandy said. “I think this is the furthest thing from her mind. It’s not like she signed up for Facebook, thinking, ‘Oh, this will be a way to reach out and find Miguel again.’ In that sense, she’s really caught off-guard. But pleasantly surprised.”

You can see the This Is Us cast talking about John Huertas’ Miguel in the video below.

[Featured Image by Ron Batzdorff/NBC]