‘This Is Us’ Creator Dan Fogelman Explains Why Season 5 Had To Premiere Before The Election As Team Talks COVID, Black Lives Matter & Kevin-Randall Rift - Deadline

That is a big deal — This Is Us is the first returning NBC scripted series and the first broadcast drama to debut new episodes this fall as the coronavirus pandemic delayed start of production on all shows and continues to impact filming on a daily basis.

That was not the original plan — NBC initially announced that the This Is Us two-hour Season 5 opener would air November 10, the Tuesday after the November 3 presidential election.

“It was really important to me — and to us — to get these episodes on before the election, not because they are political but because I think they are difficult and they are hopeful, and we felt it was important to us to put them on TV now with no agenda other than that,” he said.

To have not one but two episodes ready so quickly, the cast and crew had to shoot on weekends and the editors have been working night and day to finish the cuts, Fogelman said, adding that he only “locked” the episodes late Thursday (last night), and they are still being mixed and are missing visual effects.

Fogelman said that he has been working continuously on those two episodes since late February as scripts were changed to incorporate the coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests in the present-day storyline.

The brothers’ rift “is in the front and center of our premiere, and it will be  in front and center of our show for for quite a bit,” Fogelman said.

Also not changing is the overall course of the series, said Fogelman, who plans to wrap the series in six seasons

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