Milo Ventimiglia Hints Jack Didn't Die In That Fire On 'This Is Us'
After months of waiting, fans seemed to finally get their answer to how Jack Pearson died in the newly started second season of This Is Us, but it sounds like Milo Ventimiglia is saying we really don't know anything still. Ventimiglia opened up about his character's mysterious death in an interview with Vulture, and he dropped some hints that Jack may not have died in the way the show seemed to clearly suggest in the season premiere. Not only does Milo Ventimiglia know how Jack dies, but he's known for quite some time, and apparently we're all still in the dark for the most part.
Spoiler alert: Don't read on if you haven't started Season 2 of This Is Us yet, unless you don't care about scenes possibly being spoiled. As viewers saw last week, This Is Us returned for its second season and appeared to answer the show's central question with its final scene, which saw Rebecca (Mandy Moore) pulling up to a burned-down house and weeping with Jack's effects in in the passenger seat of her car. The shot seemed pretty clear to viewers: Jack must have died in that house fire, right? We finally know what happened. Except wait... now Milo Ventimiglia is being sketchy about the scene, saying that the show wouldn't "give it away" right at the start of the season and that the house fire only "maybe" had something to do with Jack's death.
It would be bad-form storytelling on our end if we were to just give it away right at the beginning. [Showrunner] Dan Fogelman’s plan is parceling things out so you’re satisfied in knowing, hey, maybe this burned-down home has something to do with Jack’s death because his wife is grieving and his kids are crying and everybody’s really emotional and Jack’s not there. So beyond that, it’s to be uncovered in the season.
Ummmmm, excuse me? We saw your wife break down in tears with a bag full of your stuff in front of that burned-down house, and now you're saying it might have nothing to do with the death? OK then. Actually, a number of fans have been theorizing the house fire scene was a fake out, pointing out the fact that Jack's belongings didn't seem charred, among other tiny details. Since Ventimiglia is saying that the death will still be uncovered in this season, I guess we still don't know what happened.
But one person who does know how Jack dies is Milo Ventimiglia himself — the actor said that the writing team shared the details of his character's death with him while working on this season. But he's more tight-lipped on whether the big death scene has been filmed yet or not, giving a coy response of "yes and no." Hmmm... It sounds like the big scene is coming this season, but probably not until later in the run of episodes.
The fact that This Is Us still hasn't revealed how Jack died definitely isn't great news for Milo Ventimiglia's personal life. The actor also revealed that not a day goes by where he is not stopped on the street by a fan pressing him for details about how his character died. He admits the morbid fascination with the death of his character is a bit of a strange feeling, but that he understands the curiosity of the fans of the show. Still, I bet he's looking forward to the day that This Is Us finally does air the episode fully explaining how Jack dies so people will stop running up to him and being like "Hi! How do you die?" all the time.
