'This Is Us' Season 3 Will Spend A Lot Of Time With Jack In Vietnam
It has been way, way, way too long since the Pearsons were last on our screen, although the hiatus has at least given us time to recover from the emotional rollercoaster of that finale. Season 3 will premiere on NBC next month, September 25, and a few new details have begun to emerge thanks to executive producers Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker.
“We’re breaking all the rules,” Aptaker told journalists at the Television Critics Association press tour today (August 8), teasing that the third season will jump to decades that the show has never tackled before. And given the flash-forwards that were newly introduced towards the end of last season, you can assume some of those new decades may be is the future.
“[Season 3 is] bigger and more ambitious on a production level,” Berger said, confirming that a substantial part of the new season will take place in Vietnam. Last season brought glimpses of Jack during his military days in the Vietnam war, along with the revelation that he had a brother, Nicky, who served alongside him. The role of Nicky has been cast, and while the producers weren’t ready to announce the actor yet, they confirmed that “we’re going to be spending a lot of time in Vietnam this year.”
The show has hired novelist and Vietnam veteran Tim O’Brien, who is known for his semi-autobiographical books about the war including The Things They Carried, as a consultant on Season 3. “Since most of us were not alive during Vietnam, we wanted to have someone who was an authority,” Aptaker said. “He’s shared so much of his experience, which goes back to this idea that our show is best when it comes out of someone’s real experience.” Season 2's finale ended with a glimpse of Kevin on a flight to Vietnam with his new love interest, Beth’s cousin Zoe, suggesting that the new season will spend time there in the present day as well as flashbacks.
Season 3 will also pick up on the Big Three’s 38th birthday, following the show’s established tradition. “In a show that plays around so much with time, there’s something nice in that [consistency], it grounds everyone,” said Aptaker.
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