Go behind the scenes with the cast and crew of This Is Us

And… we're rolling

If you're still mourning the end of This Is Us like we are, these behind-the-scenes photos of the cast and crew are sure to brighten your day — starting with this throwback to when Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) rolled Rebecca (Mandy Moore) out of the hospital and viewers into the wonderful world of the Pearsons.

It's hard to believe now, but creator Dan Fogelman says, "I completed the This Is Us pilot and then had to sit on it for half a year until NBC made their pilot announcements… There was no real strong sense that the show was going to make it on television."

Pod people

The notoriously tight cast (including Sterling K. Brown, Chrissy Metz, and Justin Hartley) had to curtail their socializing, like all of us, because of COVID. Before, Hartley says, "we would have a night off and all go out and hang. The last couple of years it's been slim pickings."

William times two and Randall too

Because of the structure and conceit of the show — that there are multiple timelines — certain actors naturally never film scenes together. Here, Jermel Nakia (young William) and Ron Cephas Jones (older William) make a rare sandwich with their son Randall (Brown).

The Manny gets meta

In the Manny episodes, Hartley the actor plays Kevin the actor on a set with a live studio audience actually made up of extras on This Is Us. Did you get all that?

Ups and downs

Season 1's "I Call Marriage" was a roller coaster of emotion, covering everything from Rebecca and Jack's municipal court nuptials (yay!) to Miguel and Shelley's divorce (oh no!) to Toby's crashing Kate's self-improvement seminar (why?) and Kevin's unwillingness to let Sophie go (cut it out, Kev!). It's nice to know the cast (including Ventimiglia and Moore) at least had fun behind the scenes.

Dance like no one is watching

Directing is, according to Hartley, "just getting the hell out of the way and letting people do what they do best. I mean… what am I going to tell Chris Sullivan?" We have some ideas! Here, for example, you could tell him, "Pretend you just found out you're going to be a dad and your wife gave you permission to tell the barista." See? Easy-peasy.

A family affair

TIU stars have stepped behind the lens. Of the episodes he directed, Ventimiglia's favorite was his first, season 4's "Storybook Love," in which Rebecca hosts a dinner party after Jack's death. "It wasn't trepidation, it was excitement," he says of the experience. "I was working off a wonderful script by David Windsor and Casey Johnson, [so] I was set up for success."

Three little words

"Directing is hard," says Hartley. "I'm good at giving streamlined notes and putting ideas into people's heads. And then… you realize the note that you gave… is not even close to the magic the actor is bringing to the scene. [Laughs] I said just three words, and the actors took those three words into the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

Masks up, shields on, can't lose

Jon Huertas (here with Eris Baker, Lyric Ross, and Faithe Herman) directed season 6's "Four Fathers," in which the show's dads — Jack, Randall, Kevin, and Toby — struggle to connect with their children.

Listen to your mother!

"As an actor you show up and you're eating a pastrami sandwich," says Moore (here directing Metz). "But as a director… there are seven meetings about that sandwich. What kind of bread is it on? Is it typical for them to be eating a pastrami sandwich? There's so much detail that you really don't think about as an actor, that I have always taken for granted and will never, ever take for granted again."

All for one and one for all

Says executive producer Ken Olin (right, with Ventimiglia and Fogelman): "There's a real sense of ensemble among this group," and in the cast and crew as well. "It's not created with just words and acting."

Behind the lens

Director of photography Yasu Tanida has been with the show since the beginning. Says EP Olin, who likens their relationship to that of an old married couple, "When you have Yasu Tanida there, you don't get in trouble."

Home stretch!

Sullivan directed the final season's fifth episode, "Heart and Soul," in which Malik and Deja (Asante Blackk and Ross) tell Randall and Beth their plans for Deja to move to Boston — and also bring Cassidy (Jennifer Morrison) back into the fold as a romantic prospect for Kevin.

A rare sighting

When you stop and think about it, Hartley, Metz, and Brown actually have very few scenes with Ventimiglia, because his character dies when theirs are teenagers. (Jack sometimes comes in dreams and fantasies but is usually off-limits.) When a cast member directs, we get otherwise impossible pairings — like Hartley and Ventimiglia, here—at least behind the scenes.

Pick up a copy of EW's special This Is Us edition, available to purchase online or wherever magazines are sold.