This Is Us has taken audiences all through the decades and all around the United States, and the millions of people watching know that this journey is definitely an emotional one. While waiting for the final two episodes for Season 1, fans took a detour into Memphis, where we were last face to face with a dying William and a mourning Randall. In no certain terms, actor Ron Cephas Jones previously stated that he would definitely show up again in the future, and now he's offering up a little speculation about where William could show up in Season 2.
Maybe the Jesse relationship, because he was in Chicago, so I'm sure he'll come back and Randall will have to fill him in on what happened in Memphis. Maybe we'll get a chance to see how that relationship becomes [what it is]. Maybe through dreams Randall has. Maybe through the postcard that he left for Beth that we'll see in the next episode. There are so many little pockets of places where you could put his story.
If anyone had to step aside to grab some tissues just from picturing what any of those mentioned situations would look like on the show, that's perfectly fine. Even when people are just talking about what MIGHT happen in This Is Us' future, it's an affair meant for black veils and sniffling. The power of family and drama, right?
So, while actor Ron Cephas Jones technically doesn't have a direct line into creator Dan Fogelberg's headspace, he's got a solid idea of how William was written across the course of Season 1, and he knows that there are several major moments that can easily be expanded in the narrative, whether by flashback or...well, let's just hope it's not a dream sequence, since those rarely move the plot forward.
Before "Memphis" aired, one would have assumed that fans are most eager to see more details come out about William's relationship with Jessie, the recovering addict played by Denis O'Hare. But let's get some more from their actual time together in the past, and not just having Jessie show up in the present to deliver the heartbreaking stories without visual context. We need the flashbacks! Thankfully, This Is Us has never failed to deliver on that front, much as it hasn't failed to crush in the ratings.
Of course, now that This Is Us opened up William's Memphis backstory and his extended family, which included a cameo from Atlanta's Brian Tyree Henry, there are a dozen different narrative avenues to dive into there. I would love to see more from that musical side of William in the future, so here's hoping he filled that postcard with song lyrics and sheet music notations. Or, you know, something else that's emotionally sound and heart-swelling.
Of course, if and when Ron Cephas Jones does return to This Is Us as William - it could happen tonight! - we likely won't get to experience him for an extended period. The show does have other characters whose deaths are still being obsessed over by viewers, and when the actor spoke with The Wrap, he shared that it's still up in the air just how much he'll be used when he returns. Here are his optimistic words.
That's more about contracts stuff, how many episodes. I wouldn't know that until it's time to sign. I just feel like, whether you see him or not, he's become a regular in the family, so in that sense, yeah he'll be a regular. How many times you'll see him, we're not sure yet. But I know he's coming back for a decent amount of time, I'm confident, I just can't specify.
So that might mean another standalone episode, or it might mean getting him for 2 minutes in every Season 2 installment. With just one episode left before the big finale, This Is Us airs Tuesday nights on NBC. Dry your eyes and head to our midseason premiere schedule to see what shows you can get into when the NBC drama is on hiatus.
