‘This Is Us’ Fans Prepare For Time Capsule Tearjerker With Past And Present-Day Cabin Storylines

This Is Us fans are worried about the “Sad Three.” The NBC drama recently wrapped a trilogy that showed present-day Kevin, Randall, and Kate (Justin Hartley, Sterling K. Brown and Chrissy Metz) all in a bad way, and a time capsule tearjerker is now coming.

The promo for the upcoming This Is Us episode “The Cabin” shows a pre-teen Big Three (Parker Bates, Lonnie Chavis, and Mackenzie Hancsicsak) getting ready to bury a time capsule with Pearson patriarch Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) on the grounds of the family’s mountain cabin. Flash forward nearly 30 years, and fans have some theories as to what was buried back in the day, as the three set out to dig up the capsule.

In comments to an Instagram post teasing the new episode, fans admitted they are nervous about what happens with the dual This Is Us storylines, especially with Pearson sister Kate. Fans last saw a 1990s-era Kate (Hannah Zeile) in a volatile situation with her boyfriend, Marc (Austin Abrams), while present-day Kate’s marriage is in danger of imploding.

“I’m so anxious for this one,” one This Is Us fan wrote of “The Cabin” episode.

“Lots of tissues tonight,” another viewer added.

While many fans think that digging up the decades-old time capsule will bring back nostalgic memories of Jack, others had a more sinister theory as to what the Big Three will unearth.

“If this were ANY other show, that would be Marc’s body in the ground,” one person wrote in comments to a YouTube promo for “The Cabin” episode.

Many fans seemed to buy into the theory that things don’t end well for Marc at the cabin, with Kate’s mom and angry brothers on the way to the family’s mountain retreat.

“This is going to be a tough episode to watch,” another fan wrote.

One thing is for sure: the storylines won’t all be wrapped up in “The Cabin.” In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, This Is Us executive producer Isaac Aptaker said the future fractured relationship between brothers Kevin and Randall will “start” at the cabin and then will continue to grow and build over the remaining five episodes of Season 4.

Aptaker also said the present-day cabin story will be “explosive,” as are most episodes when the entire Pearson family gathers together. In this case, however, the explosion will come circa the late 1990s and 2020.

“Things come to a head, some secrets are revealed,” the This Is Us boss said. “But there’s also this really beautiful story that is about this time capsule that the Pearsons bury at the cabin in the early teenage years and how that comes to play in the present.”