Changes are underway! Chris Sullivan, who plays Toby Damon on NBC’s This Is Us, opened up to Us Weekly at the 70th annual Emmy Awards about the upcoming season 3, in which his character is tackling struggles with depression. However, that’s not the only change coming.
“Season 3 pretty much picks up exactly where we left off but the season as a whole, I think, is really going to surprise people. [Creator] Dan Fogelman and the writing staff are changing it up a little bit this season and I think people are really gonna like it,” he told Us Weekly, adding that “the structure and the way the story is told” are very different and will really mix things up.
“You’re gonna get a lot more backstory on all the characters individually, so it should help to build the world out a little more,” the actor, 38, said. He also touched on the struggles that Toby is going through – both individually and with Kate (Chrissy Metz).
“Hopefully it starts a conversation about how you can connect when you’re in that place with the people that you love and not stay isolated and alone,” he said. The recent sneak peak of season 3 revealed that while Toby is struggling with his mental state, the pair are also trying to get pregnant again after suffering a miscarriage in season 2.
Another couple who are butting heads a bit this season is Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) and Randall (Sterling K. Brown). While the two are not splitting up, they will be focusing a bit on their individuality and their careers, as well as the possibility of adopting Deja.
“They’re doing … OK,” Watson, 36, told Us Weekly about Beth and Randall in season 3. “We’re now were starting to see what Beth and Randall want to do in terms of their own lives and how they are going to fulfill themselves both career wise and personally. There’s this feeling of wanting to be and do more or just space they still feel isn’t quite being fulfilled. As you know, Randall didn’t have a job and he and Beth came together and started R&B Properties. But also, Beth is going to be dealing with her own personal challenge and we’ll begin to see who she was and how Beth came to be. We’ll start to track her life and things like that.”
This Is Us premieres on NBC Tuesday, September 25, at 8 p.m. ET.
