Chrissy Metz's Hint About 'This Is Us' Season 5 Has Me So Nervous For Kate

Of all the seasons to be delayed of This Is Us, Season 5 feels like the least ideal. Though every season finale brings a cliffhanger of sorts, Season 5's premiere was teased back in Thanksgiving of 2019, as viewers got a flash-forward look at the Big Three's not-so-happy 40th birthday. Since learning Kevin and Randall would have a major fight, fans have been anxious for the Season 5 premiere (which has always been set around the Big Three birthday celebration). But Kate's This Is Us Season 5 storyline may be the one that blindsides everyone, according to Chrissy Metz.

One of the moves in the This Is Us playbook is to hide twists in plain sight by distracting the viewer with other drama. For example, by showing Kate sans Toby in the Season 5 flash-forward, fans were trained to be looking for signs they could break up. That allowed the show to introduce the daughter they'll eventually adopt without anyone realizing who she actually was — until they were supposed to, of course.

Currently, most of the speculation surrounding Season 5 focuses on Randall and Kevin and their big breakup. Fans are debating who will step up and help repair the damage, whose side Kate might take in the fight, how Rebecca will handle her sons' cold war. But fans didn't consider Kate might have problems that have nothing at all to do with this rift.

Season 5 left fans eager to see a happy story with Toby and Kate as they take their first step on the road to adopting baby Jack's sister. But actor Chrissy Metz warns viewers there's a significant twist ahead in Kate's life, and it's one fans may find divisive. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, she said:

I'm privy to some information about what's happening with Kate in the present day that she hasn't really contended with from the past. We didn't know that she was dealing with this, and it was something that she went through.

This twist is big enough for show creator Dan Fogelman to reach out to Metz before going ahead with it.

Dan said, 'Oh my goodness, are you even comfortable with doing this?' And I was like, 'Yeah, I am. I think it's really important.'

But the real news is that it's something the show was already laying down the foundation for, while fans weren't looking. Metz admitted:

You could guess where it might come from, but I think it's very unexpected. Very unexpected.

Whatever the bombshell is, it's going to have fans talking:

I was pretty much shocked. And I do think that it's really important with TV, film, art in any capacity to not necessarily educate us, but enlighten us to someone else's issues or previous experiences and how that can shape and change our minds and our thoughts about them or what we might be going through.

This Is Us Season 5 is currently slated to begin airing on Tuesday, Oct. 28, at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.