Milo Ventimiglia, Chrissy Metz, Susan Kelechi Watson and Chris Sullivan all shared their favorite lines from the series’ six-year run
Fans have long-raved about the powerful writing on This Is Us — but now, the cast is also getting in on the fandom.
During the series finale screening and panel on Sunday, Milo Ventimiglia, Chrissy Metz, Susan Kelechi Watson, and Chris Sullivan opened up about their favorite lines from the NBC series’ six-year run.
Sullivan, 41, was the first to share, explaining that his favorite line of the series came from young Kate (Mackenzie Hancsicsak) in the final episode.
“As long as I know where all of you are, I know where I’m going,” he said. “I was sitting in my office weeping. I didn’t realize that that is how I feel about my life until [creator] Dan [Fogelman] said it [in the script], and that’s something I’m gonna take with me forever.”
Ventimiglia, 44, followed his costar’s lead, and also offered a memorable line from the finale.
“When the world puts something this obvious in front of you, you don’t just walk away from it,” he said, before clarifying on its meaning. “Pay attention. Pay attention when life is happening in front of you. That was a big moment for me to be like, pay attention to life happening in front of you as it’s happening, don’t let it pass.”
“Be there, be present, recognize those good things that come into your life,” he continued. “Recognize when you can be that good thing in someone else’s life because the moment will pass and it’ll be gone, so just recognize it.”
Metz, 41, said her favorite line came from the emotional penultimate episode during a conversation between the late William Hill (Ron Cephas Jones) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) on the train, right before she enters the caboose car.
“Of course, when Rebecca said, ‘Isn’t this quite sad?’ and William says, ‘No, if it is, it’s because it meant something,'” Metz explained. “If that don’t sum up this whole damn series, I don’t know what else does.”
Watson, 40, also revealed her favorite line, which actually came from a song performed by Rebecca at Kate and Phillip’s wedding.
“It’s a song… went to the top of the charts because Mandy Moore sang it,” Watson noted. “It says, ‘I’m starting to learn that some silences shouldn’t be broken, just listened to,’ and that’s in ‘Forever Now.'”
“That was just so deep to me,” she continued. “I’m a big fan of how to communicate without words and something about listening to a silence for information, and there being information in it, something to gather there without an over-explanation, felt beautiful and very human and very poignant. That whole song wrecked all of us every single time she sang it. There’s so many gems in it, but that one stuck out to me the most.”
This Is Us premiered on NBC in September 2016. In addition to Ventimiglia, Moore, Metz, Sullivan and Watson, the series also starred Sterling K. Brown, Justin Hartley, and Jon Huertas. Over its six-season run, the show earned hundreds of accolades — including more than 30 Emmy Award nominations — before its conclusion on Tuesday.
“I felt the most pressure in these last two episodes, in terms of getting it done the way I wanted to get it done,” Fogelman said to reporters during a conference call earlier that day. “Allowing the final episode to be a simple reflection of family and time — in a way, that’s the most challenging stuff… the most ambitious stuff and challenging stuff is the simple stuff, and that’s also the most rewarding.”
“It’s probably the proudest I’ve been for an episode of the show,” he added.
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