Chrissy Metz Teases Unexpected & ‘Super Important’ Storyline For Kate In ‘This Is Us’ Season 5

Chrissy Metz says her This Is Us character Kate Pearson will have a traumatic flashback in the upcoming fifth season of the NBC drama series.

In a new interview with People, the Emmy-nominated actress teased a Season 5 storyline “about some experiences that shaped Kate as a woman, as an adult, that we haven’t seen yet.” The This Is Us star added that the storyline about Kate’s past is full of “trauma,” and that showrunner Dan Fogelman even ran it by her before committing to it.

“I remember Dan giving me a call and he’s like, ‘How do you feel about this? Are you going to be able to tackle this? How are you going to feel about it?’ I’m like, ‘No let’s do it, I think it’s super important,'” Metz told the outlet.

The actress reiterated that This Is Us fans have “no idea” Kate went through the experience that will play out during Season 5.

Season 4 showed a teen Kate’s (Hannah Zeile) struggle with an abusive boyfriend, as well as the unraveling of the character’s present-day marriage to Toby (Chris Sullivan), and a deep-future flash-forward that teased that Kate and Toby eventually adopted a daughter, Hailey (Adelaide Kane).

While the late 1990s storyline with Kate’s angry ex-boyfriend Marc (Austin Abrams) seemed to wrap up when Kate’s brothers booted him out of the family cabin last season, the situation left her with deep emotional scars.

Fans may also recall a scene in which a present-day Rebecca (Mandy Moore) found an old photo of Marc and made a regretful comment to Kate about wanting to “believe” her kids were happy and not realizing what was going on. It would not be a surprise if there is more to the Marc story, and anything to do with Marc could certainly be described as “trauma.”

When asked if viewers have seen the last of Marc, This Is Us executive producer Isaac Aptaker gave a cryptic answer.

“For the time being, that’s the last we’ll see of Marc,” Aptaker told Entertainment Weekly earlier this year.

While the upcoming Kate storyline remains a mystery, one thing fans can expect is that the Season 5 premiere — which Fogelman has already written — will kick off with the 40th birthday celebration of the Big Three (Metz, Justin Hartley, and Sterling K. Brown).

There is no word when This Is Us will resume production amid the coronavirus pandemic. The show usually starts filming in July, ahead of a late September premiere.