This Is Us will have a bit of a flash forward when the show picks up for the second half of Season 3 next month. The time-jumping NBC drama will show Kate Pearson (Chrissy Metz) further along in her pregnancy after her baby’s gender reveal that played out on the fall finale episode, “The Beginning is the End is the Beginning.” In November, viewers shared in the struggling couple’s gender reveal joy when blue cake and candies revealed that they were expecting a baby boy.
When This Is Us picks up on January 15, Kate and her husband Toby Damon (Chris Sullivan) will be knee deep in baby blues—in this case, blue walls for an adorable outer space-themed nursery for their bundle of joy.
TV Line posted an exclusive photo from the still-untitled upcoming This Is Us winter premiere episode. In the sneak peek pic, the expectant parents are seen standing in their son’s nursery, fully assembled crib in clear view. The parents-to-be look pensive in the pic, but TV Line reports that the official episode synopsis, only teases, “Kate and Toby get ready for the baby.” While that doesn’t give viewers much to chew on, it does appear that Kate will make it through to the final trimester of her high-risk pregnancy.
#ThisIsUs ‘ Kate and Toby Prepare for Their Baby’s Birth — Exclusive #2019FirstLook https://t.co/CKprnP5dDU pic.twitter.com/ZOIT3PAeIA
— TVLine.com (@TVLine) December 26, 2018
While many This Is Us fans hope that Kate’s baby name will include “Jack” in it after the child’s late grandfather, others fear that the Damon marriage will not stand the test of parenthood. Chrissy Metz told Entertainment Weekly that Kate and Toby’s situation could be surprising.
“Toby and Kate are going to have a bit of an unconventional parenting situation. Not unconventional in that people aren’t doing it, but not what I think either of them ever had in mind.”
Metz also revealed that the couple’s scenario would provide challenges for her as an actress, and she teased that what happens to them is “something I don’t think we’ve ever seen, at least not on network television.”
Of course, parenthood will not come easy for Katoby, no matter what happens when the back half of the season picks up next month. This Is Us already tormented fans with a devastating miscarriage for the couple before they were told their chances to conceive a baby through IVF would be virtually impossible. Kate and Toby beat the odds, but they still have a delivery to get through, and, based on past flash-forward scenes, viewers know that in some 15 years in the future, Toby appears to be alone and in a depressed state.
This Is Us returns to NBC on Tuesday, January 15 at 9 p.m.