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This Is Us creator compares final moment to The Sopranos ending

Popular show concluded this week after six seasons

Roisin O'Connor
Wednesday 25 May 2022 12:58 BST
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This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman has compared a moment in the show’s finale to the notorious conclusion of The Sopranos.

The popular drama series, starring Sterling K Brown, Mandy Moore, Chrissy Metz and Milo Ventimiglia, ended this week after six seasons.

Appearing at a press conference for NBC, Fogelman said he felt Randall’s (Brown) “political journey ahead of him” could be compared to the cliffhanger in The Sopranos – where Tony Soprano sits in a diner with his family as a possible hitman enters, before the scene cuts to black.

During the This Is Us scene in question, as per E! News, the newly appointed senator decides to go to Iowa after a request from the Democratic National Committee, with the fate of his political career uncertain.

Fogelman said this was “probably the closest we come in the show to Sopranos going to black at the end of the episode”.

“You're left to choose your own adventure as to what you think happened with him,” he said (via E!). “I think it's up to the audience to decide what they think happens next with Randall.

“Does he even decide to run again? Does he and Beth decide they'd rather settle at home? If he runs, how much traction does he get? Does he win?”

He said that, in his mind, he knew what would have happened to Randall and his family, but it was a question that “was not meant to be answered”.

“There were definitely a lot of conversations about how we were showing the end of Randall's political journey,” he continued. “We all felt that if we had hypothetically flash-forwarded to Randall sitting in the White House, that wasn't what the show is. It would have broken a little bit.

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“We loved ending it on the promise of further stardom for this exceptional and extraordinary character without going all the way there.”

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