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When will ‘This Is Us’ Season 5 return? How doctor Eli will be important in Kevin and Madison's life on NBC show

NBC announced that the hit series will be back sooner than expected on October 27 in a commercial that aired during ‘America's Got Talent’

Good news! ‘This Is Us’ fans, get set to dive into the Pearson family drama again as the NBC show moves its premiere date by two weeks. Back in August, the official Twitter handle had tweeted, "The Pearsons are coming home. #ThisIsUs returns with a two-hour premiere this fall on @NBC," with an expected release on November 10.

Now, the hit series will be back sooner than expected on October 27, according to a Deadline report. According to TV Line, NBC made the announcement in a commercial that aired during America's Got Talent’ on Wednesday, September 23. The season-opener will still be two hours long.

Recently, the show celebrated its fourth year anniversary on September 20 with a tweet: "On this day in TV history, you met the Pearsons for the very first time." Moreover, at the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, Ron Cephas Jones clinched the trophy for Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series category for his role as William Hill.

As the show comes back after almost one year, we can't wait to see how the past, present and future will be intertwined. What's in store for each member of the Pearson family, especially the new generation, this time around?

Where we left off

The beloved NBC drama series wrapped up its fourth season with a bittersweet ending and a pinch of suspense. Putting lost pieces of the jigsaw puzzle from the past, present and future together, the makers answered many questions but left a mystery hanging in the air: Who is the man with a horse and a young brunette woman working at an art gallery?

If we look back at the hints from Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Toby's (Chris Sullivan) conversation, she is Jack's adopted sister, Hailey. As for the man with a horse and his daughter, it's Josh Hamilton as Madison's doctor Eli and Glory Rose as his daughter, Sadie. Kate and Toby's little Jack Damon (Blake Stadnik) is an adult now and is spending time with his wife, Lucy Damon (Auden Thornton). The couple gives birth to an adorable baby girl and name her Hope! One of the main highlights would be their lives and how it unfolds in the next season. 

Not just Hope, the episode featured more babies. Did you ever expect to see Kevin Pearson (Justin Hartley) as a father? In a heartwarming scene in the flash-forward, Kevin's twins come to hug him — and he has a little girl and a beautiful boy. However, what's unclear is who is his fiancée? The final Episode 18 — titled 'Strangers: Part Two' — reveals that Madison (Caitlin Thompson) is the mother of Kevin's child, but that doesn't necessarily mean she's engaged to him. So, who could his lady love be? 

What we'd like to see

After that explosive ‘This Is Us’ ending featured a full-blown fight between Randall (Sterling K Brown) and Kevin, what should fans look forward to? Talking about the next season, creator Dan Fogelman had earlier told reporters, "I've written the season premiere for season five," adding, "Something big happens. We have our entire plan mapped out for seasons five and six."

Fogelman also hinted that the new season will bring forth many new stories. "I'm very excited about that, especially with where the world is right now," he said. “I would call it almost a rebirth that will come next season. [There will be] a lot of new beginnings and particularly the words birth and rebirth are going to be a big thematic part of next season."

When asked about Kevin's fiancée, Fogelman told The Hollywood Reporter, "There's an immediate answer coming to all of that," adding, "But I think that there's basically many more chapters in Kevin's romantic story." Moving on to Rebecca Pearson (Mandy Moore), he said, "We have a big storyline planned for Mandy in the next upcoming season in the present-day as an older woman and also her past timelines. That will include a deeper look into Rebecca and Miguel's (Jon Huertas) relationship throughout the decades."

Which other characters should you look forward to? In the same interview, Fogelman revealed that Madison's doctor, Eli, will become a major player. "Josh is a favorite actor of mine. The doctor becomes an important character next season to Kevin — he's having twins with a virtual stranger, not a normal birth experience. It’s no coincidence he was introduced in the same episode that Dr K returned." That's not all. The future of Deja (Lyric Ross), Tess (Eris Baker) and Annie (Faithe Herman) will also be explored in Season 5.

When is it returning?

One of the biggest questions buzzing in many minds as Season 5 returns is: How will the makers handle the coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests? Will it be a part of the new season? "This moment in time that we find ourselves in is something different [than what we’ve experienced before], and if we attack it, we want to attack it the right way," Fogelman said during a panel with Entertainment Weekly's Dan Snierson for the 92Y.

"We do feel uniquely suited in our show to mark this moment, but it’s complicated territory." However, he seems to have chalked out a plan. "We're mindful and we're hopeful that we can get something right here." Back in August, he gave "some vague #ThisIsUs answers" in a tweet to his fans. Here's what he said: 

Get set to watch the two-hour episode of 'This Is Us' premiere on Tuesday, October 27 at 9 pm ET on NBC. Following that, you can catch one-hour episodes starting at 9 pm from November 3, 2020.