Warning! Spoilers for This Is Us season 6 episode 18 ahead.
Following the This Is Us series finale, creator Dan Fogelman discusses Randall's political future. The long-running NBC drama came to a close on May 24 after six seasons. Recent episodes featured many of the show's trademarks, including surprise twists and emotional moments. This Is Us season 6 has shown the Pearsons experience new highs, with Randall becoming a Senator, Kate remarrying, and Kevin reuniting with Sophie. However, the last half of the season also focused on Rebecca and Miguel's deaths, in a series of bittersweet episodes.
The This Is Us series finale picks up just after Rebecca's passing, with the Pearson family preparing for her funeral. Randall struggles to cope with her death and the feeling that everything is ultimately pointless. Deja manages to cheer him up by sharing that her unborn child is a boy, and she and Malik plan to name him William. Randall also has an illuminating conversation with Kate and Kevin, where he implies the DNC is interested in him as a potential candidate for President. However, Randall makes it clear he and Beth haven't made a decision yet, leaving his political future up in the air at the episode's end.
Speaking about the This Is Us series finale (via Deadline), Fogelman addressed Randall's ambiguous ending. Though Fogelman has his own ideas about what happens next, he said it's purposely left open-ended for viewers. The creator explained:
In my mind, I know what happens to Randall and his family but it’s meant to not be answered and to just leave a hint of promise, and then I think it’s up to the audience to decide what they think happens next with Randall. Did we watch an origin story without realizing we were watching one of the future leaders of the free world? Or is the completion of Randall’s arc to not push further in his career and settle into a role where he’s comfortable. I think it was always more about Randall choosing to move forward because his mother has now freed him to do what he wants and to go for the big choices if it’s something he wants to do.
But we were never tempted to flash forward. There were definitely a lot of conversations about how we were showing the end of Randall’s political journey. We all felt that if we had hypothetically flash forward to Randall sitting in the White House, that wasn’t what the show is, it would have broken a little, a little bit. So we loved ending it on the hint of promise of further and further stardom to this exceptional, extraordinary character without going all the way there.
For a show known for its flash-forwards and reveals about what characters were up to in the future, it's surprising that the This Is Us series finale only leaps past the day of Rebecca's funeral once, for a montage scene with Kate and Toby's son Jack and his family at a park. However, in a way, it's refreshing that audiences are given a bit more freedom to come up with their own ideas about what's next for the Pearsons, especially Randall.
Fogelman's reason for leaving out a White House scene makes a lot of sense, too. Though This Is Us focused quite a bit on Randall's political career around the midpoint of its run, that storyline was always more about the impact on his relationships, firmly keeping the show a family drama. A political flash-forward scene not only could have betrayed that but also would have taken away from the series finale's otherwise grounded approach. Though Fogelman could change his mind at some point, for now, it's left to This Is Us viewers to draw their own conclusions about Randall's future.
Source: Deadline