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What happened to Rebecca? Where is Kate? Are Randall and Beth divorced? These questions and more are answered by our This Is Us season 3 finale theories. It’s been a wild season for the Pearson family. Kate and Toby welcomed a baby boy (named after Kate’s late father, Jack.) Kevin found and reunited with his father’s missing brother, Nicky. And Randall and Beth reached a tipping point in their marriage. All this to say: There will be a lot of drama in the season 3 finale, which airs Tuesday, April 2.
What will happen to the Pearsons? We don’t know. But, as always, fans have their theories. Before we dive into the clues and hints the This Is Us creators have been leaving us the entire season, let’s recap what happened in season 3. Along with finding out what happened to Nicky (spoiler alert: he left Vietnam after he accidentally killed a Vietnamese boy with a grenade), fans saw Toby an Kate welcome a premature baby, as well as Kevin wrestle with his sobriety. But the biggest question going into the season 3 finale has been about Beth and Randall and whether they are still together. This season of This Is Us has been bookmarked with flash forwards of the Pearsons visiting Rebecca for reasons unknown. Kate is also missing from these flash forwards, so there have been theories about what happened to her. We try to answer these questions and more ahead.
Randall and Beth Aren’t Divorced But Separated
The episode before the season 3 finale saw the journey of Beth and Randall’s relationship, from their first date to today where Beth is done putting her dance dreams to the side for Randall’s life and political career. We see both Randall and Beth in the flash forward, and though it doesn’t look good for them by the end of episode 17, it looks like the two are technically still married. In a scene where Randall calls Toby, he is seen with his wedding ring still on, so unless he remarried (unlikely), he and Beth are likely still together. Our theory is that they’re not full-on divorced but separated. Their fight in episode 17 seemed serious, which makes us think that they still haven’t recovered from it. “I have remained ever hopeful that Beth and Randall figure out a way to make it through, but we have seen a glimpse into their future, which may lead folks to believe that they didn’t quite make it all the way,” Sterling K. Brown, who plays Randall, told The Hollywood Reporter of Beth and Randall’s future.
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Kate and Toby Are Divorced
Unlike Randall, who is seen in the flash forward with his wedding ring, Toby is seen in the flash forward without it. Toby’s scene is also of him alone, which could be a clue that he and Kate are no longer together. In the flash forward, Toby asks if “she” would want him to be there. The “she” was later revealed to be Rebecca, who is in the hospital. If he and Kate were still together, why would Toby he hesitant to visit Rebecca? It would only make sense if he and Kate are no longer together and there would be some awkwardness. Either way, the theory is out there.
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Kevin and Zoe Had a Baby and Gave It Up for Adoption
There were a lot of theories that Zoe was pregnant and that she and Kevin would have a baby. The theories started when the two went to Vietnam, where Zoe had food poisoning. Many fans wondered if she was passing off her sickness as food poisoning, but it was really morning sickness. The second clue came when Justin Hartley, who plays Kevin, shared a side-by-side of him comforting an ill Zoe. Next to the picture was a shot of his dad, Jack, comforting his mom, Rebecca, before she gave birth. Was Hartley trying to tell fans something? Is Zoe pregnant? If she is, it would be unlikely that the two would keep the baby. In a recent episode, Zoe reveals that she never wants to have a child, which Kevin eventually agrees to. So if Zoe is pregnant, it’s likely that the baby would be given up for adoption. (There was even a theory that Kate would adopt Kevin’s baby after having a miscarriage, but as we know, Kate gave birth, so that can’t be true.)
Rebecca Has Dementia
In the middle of season 3, we learn that the mysterious “her” that the Pearsons were preparing to visit is Rebecca. Why they were so nervous to see her? We don’t know, but there’s a theory that she has dementia or Alzheimer’s. There have been clues of this throughout the season. The first is when Jack makes a comment that about how the couple will one day be old and grey and not remember what they ate for breakfast, but the clue that really has fans convinced is Beth’s Pin the Tail on the Donkey game, which she makes sure to bring with her before she visits Rebecca. Why is this important? Well, the game has a special significance to the Pearsons. It’s the game that the Big Three, Randall, Kevin and Kate, would play each year on their birthday. Perhaps the day that everyone is visiting Rebecca is on their birthday and the Big Three play the game as a way to remind Rebecca of those memories of re-create them for her. There have been a lot of theories that Rebecca will also die in the season 3 finale, as the the flash forward places her at around 80 years old. Mandy Moore, who plays Rebecca, even told Popsugar that Rebecca’s finale storyline will “be a lot for people to digest emotionally.”
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Rebecca Can No Longer Move Because of a Degenerative Illness
This could go hand-in-hand with Rebecca’s dementia or it could be a new theory as to why the family visiting her in the flash forward. In the mid-season finale, Rebecca tells Tess that she’s had body aches and pains for decades, which she attributes for keeping so many secrets. (The main one was that Randall’s birth father was alive and that she knew him.) Could this be a clue that Rebecca has some sort of degenerative illness that prevents her from moving? This may be why everyone is coming to her. The flash forward would place Rebecca around 80, so if her aches and pains were the result of a condition, they would’ve only become worse over time.
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Randall Has a Biological Sibling
This theory comes from a photo creator Dan Fogelman tweeted in August 2018 of Randall’s father, William, holding a baby. The big question: Who is the baby? Well, it can’t be Randall, as the show has used a different actor to portray young William (aka the one who dropped Randall off at the fire station) an the photo shows Ron Cephas Jones, who is used to portrayal old and middle-aged William. The theory is that the baby is Randall’s biological sibling, who was born when William was much older—hence why the picture uses Jones instead of young Randall’s actor. Could season four explore Randall’s relationship with his long lost brother or sister? We hope so. (Could the picture also be a classic case of misdirection? Possibly.)
Kevin Will Build Nicky a House
There are a couple of clues for this theory. One is that Nicky said when he was young that he wanted two houses and a boat when he grew up. Right now, he has a trailer (which counts as his first house), so he needs one more, which could be what Kevin builds. The second is Jack’s dream of Big Three Construction, a construction company he wanted to create before he started a desk job for safety and stability. If Kevin, who seems to have the closest relationship with Nicky, teams up with Randall and Kate, then Jack’s dream could come true. Though not a company (however, we’re not ruling that out), the Big Three working together to build a house is definitely close. When the Pearsons visited Nicky, there was also a fixation on his trailer and rundown it was from him living in it for decades. Also, if the Pearsons were to build Nicky a house, the show would come full circle, as the house they grew up in was built from the ground up by Jack.
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Kate Died of the Same Heart Condition as Her Father
As heartbreaking as this theory is, there are a couple clues for it. The first is the fixation on Kate’s health during her pregnancy. Since the start of her journey, there have been several mentions about the stress Kate’s baby has had on her health and body. The second clue is the flash forward scene where we see Toby alone in an empty bed without his wedding ring, suggesting that Kate isn’t with him. There was a theory that Kate and Toby are divorced, but what if it’s that she died? The biggest theory is that Kate has the same heart condition that took her father’s life after he inhaled a significant amount of smoke following the Pearson house fire. “When the Big Three mentioned that Jack died from a heart attack due to smoke inhalation, Nicky kind of made a knowing face. I’d assume he knew the heart condition was what prevented Jack from being drafted,” a Reddit user wrote. The theory believes that Kate didn’t die because of birth-related causes but because of the heart condition, which she may not even know she has.
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Kate’s Baby Will Inherit Jack’s Heart Condition
There are many theories predicting that Jack’s heart condition will come back to affect the Pearsons in present day. One theory is that Kate’s baby, also named Jack, will inherit his grandfather’s heart condition. The theory comes from Kate’s quote that she wants to “pass on something of Dad’s” to her baby. As heartbreaking as it sounds, that “something” could be Jack’s heart condition. Further, Chrissy Metz, who plays Kate, told PopSugar that Kate and Toby have an “unconventional” parenting situation. Though this could nod to baby Jack being born premature, it could also suggest another health condition. “Toby and Kate are going to have a bit of an unconventional parenting situation,” she said.. “Not unconventional in that people aren’t doing it, but not what I think either of them ever had in mind…it’s something I don’t think we’ve ever seen, at least not on network television.”
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Rebecca Will “See” Jack When She Dies
The most agreed-upon theory is that Rebecca will die in the season 3 finale flash forward. But what will happen exactly? Well, there’s a theory that Rebecca will reunite with Jack’s ghost before she passes away. Though there are no concrete clues for this, it makes sense. The idea of the show’s matriarch dying will be heartbreaking for fans, and one way to ease that heartbreak is to have her reunite with her husband, who she hasn’t seen since her children were teens. We’re all for it.
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