Milo Ventimiglia Joins Season 4 Of ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’

Exciting news! Looks like Milo will star in Season 4 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

DEADLINE – It looks like there will be a mini Gilmore Girls reunion on the upcoming fourth season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Gilmore Girls alum and This is Us star Milo Ventimiglia has been cast in an undisclosed guest role on the Amazon series, Deadline has confirmed.

Amazon would not reveal any character details.

The casting will reunite Ventimiglia with Maisel and Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and EP Daniel Palladino.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel stars Rachel Brosnahan, Tony Shalhoub, Alex Borstein, Marin Hinkle, Michael Zegen, Kevin Pollak and Caroline Aaron. Stephanie Hsu returns for Season 4 as well as Luke Kirby in his recurring role as Lenny Bruce.

In season 3, Midge (Brosnahan) and Susie (Borstein) discovered that life on tour with Shy (Leroy McClain) was glamorous but humbling, and they learned a lesson about show business they’ll never forget.

Ventimiglia has received three lead actor Emmy nominations for his role as Jack Pearson on NBC’s flagship drama series This Is Us.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is the winner of 20 Emmy Awards including Outstanding Comedy series, three Golden Globes including Best TV Series—Comedy, six Critics Choice Awards including Best Comedy Series, two PGA Awards, a WGA Award, and a Peabody Award.

written by Emily on June 10, 2021 under

‘This Is Us’ Ending With Season 6

DEADLINE – This is not news yet still a sad development for This Is Us fans. As This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman has confirmed numerous times over the last couple of years, the highly-rated NBC family drama will end with its upcoming sixth season, the final under the series’ current three-season renewal.

Fogelman conceived This Is Us as a limited-run series. It was sold to NBC as such, with Fogelman early on setting on a six-season arc. As a result, This Is Us‘ most recent pickup in 2019, which goes through next season, had been revealed to be the show’s final one, with the casts’ contracts also ending at that time.

Asked after the Season 4 finale last spring when he was already mapping out Season 5, whether his original plan for This Is Us has changed, Fogelman reiterated that the series will end with Season 6. “That’s when the Pearson story will basically come to a close,” he said.

Fogelman also had insisted from the get-go on shorter seasons, which, except for the pandemic-impacted 2020-21 season, have all consisted of 18 episodes. (The current fifth season has 16 episodes.)

Spanning multiple generations of the Pearson family and multiple time periods, This Is Us was an instant hit, connecting with viewers and critics alike and bringing broadcast drama back into the TV awards conversation, landing multiple Drama Series Emmy nominations. Five seasons in, it remains NBC’s highest-rated entertainment program.

Created and executive produced by Fogelman, This Is Us comes from 20th Television. The cast of the series is led by Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown, who won an Emmy for his role, Chrissy Metz, Justin Hartley, Susan Kelechi Watson and Chris Sullivan.

written by Emily on May 14, 2021 under

‘This Is Us’ Renewed for Three More Seasons at NBC

VARIETY – “This Is Us” has been renewed for Seasons 4, 5, and 6 at NBC.

This is not the first time the hit drama series has received a multi-season commitment at the network. After it’s first season kicked off to stellar numbers and critical acclaim, NBC gave it an early pick up for two more seasons, bringing the show to its current third season.

“In a television landscape with nearly 500 original scripted series, there are very few, if any, that have the critical and cultural impact of ‘This Is Us’ and we couldn’t be more proud to bring fans three more seasons of a show that so well represents the NBC brand,” said Lisa Katz and Tracey Pakosta, presidents of scripted programming for NBC Entertainment. “A huge thank you and congratulations to our executive producers, cast and crew who reach new heights every week with the show’s inventive and compelling storytelling.”

News of the multi-season renewal is not unexpected, as series co-showrunner Isaac Aptaker has previously said the plan is for the show to potentially wrap up after three more seasons.

“This Is Us” ranks as one of the top shows on all of television and the number one scripted broadcast series in the key adults 18-49 demographic. In the Nielsen Live+7 numbers, the third season averaged a staggering 3.8 rating and 13.8 million viewers.

“This Is Us” focuses on the Pearson family though multiple generations and time periods. It stars Sterling K. Brown, Justin Hartley, Jon Huertas, Chrissy Metz, Mandy Moore, Chris Sullivan, Milo Ventimiglia and Susan Kelechi Watson.The series is executive produced by Dan Fogelman, Isaac Aptaker, Elizabeth Berger, John Requa, Glenn Ficarra, Ken Olin, Charlie Gogolak and Jess Rosenthal, and it is produced by 20th Century Fox Television.

The third season ended with a jump to the future to reveal that Pearson matriarch Rebecca (Moore) was bedridden and living with Kevin (Hartley), who finally had a son. The fourth season, therefore, is set up to further explore Rebecca’s character through the years to show more of what informed her, including her relationship with her father, to ultimately explain what ailment she suffers from in her later years.

“Our world’s going to expand a little bit in a really interesting way,” Fogelman said of the fourth season during the show’s PaleyFest panel in March. “I think where we’re starting the season is as ambitious as we’ve been.” He added that he had already written the fourth season premiere episode, as well.

written by Emily on May 13, 2019 under

Milo Ventimiglia Says This is Us Season 3 Will Explore Jack in His 20s During the Vietnam War

PEOPLE – Beloved TV dad Jack Pearson may be dead, but that doesn’t mean This is Us fans have seen the last of him.

“We’re definitely going to see Jack in the Vietnam era,” Milo Ventimiglia, 40, tells PEOPLE of his character’s military past. “At the end of the Super Bowl episode when people were ultimately confronted with how he passed away, there was a trailer to show Jack in a helicopter over Vietnam in uniform. We’re going to explore that side of Jack’s 20s and what brought him into the man that we all knew.”

Jack Pearson died of cardiac arrest after being inside when his family’s Pittsburgh home caught fire. Ventimiglia says that even though viewers witnessed Jack’s funeral, they refuse to believe the father of the Big Three is truly gone. “People still are saying to me, ‘You’re not really dead, are you?’ ” Ventimiglia, whose dad was a real-life Vietnam War vet, admits. “They’re still constant.”

Before This is Us starts filming again in July, the Emmy nominee will go to work shooting The Art of Racing in the Rain and enjoy one of his favorite hobbies: riding his motorcycle.

“I’m on my bike four days a week,” says Ventimiglia, who partnered with Harley-Davidson to celebrate the brand’s 115th anniversary. “I really look forward to hopping on my Harley.”

While the Gilmore Girls alum typically commutes on his motorcycle around Los Angeles, he also likes escaping to Malibu or the California desert for weekend getaways with friends. In 2017, he even travelled between Portland and L.A. on his bike.

“Last June I took a ride from Portland, Oregon, down to Los Angeles with a group of friends; some from Oregon, some from Japan,” Ventimiglia recalls. “It was a moment to get some miles on the bike but also spend time with friends. I have yet to go across the U.S., but I’m hoping to in the next year or two.”

Ventimiglia got his motorcycle license at age 26 for a scene in American Dreams, costarring Brittany Snow. But his ambitions of becoming a rider date back to childhood.

“I remember being a kid and seeing a Harley-Davidson go by and hearing the sounds and seeing its rider kind of wave at me, thinking, God, that must be fun to be that free on a motorcycle with the wind in your face and a road in front of you,” the California native recalls. “Every time I get off my bike, I look back at it with that kid excitement of, ‘Wow, I really, really love riding.’ ”

His This is Us costars love the sound of his Harley, too. “Every time my bike roars up to set they’re all happy to hear it ’cause they know that I made it,” Ventimiglia says. “Susan Kelechi watched and she threw a leg over my bike and took a photo and put it up on social media!”

Ventimilgia will be taking over Harley-Davidson’s social media channels Monday to kick off riding season and celebrate the company’s 115th anniversary with the hashtag #MotorcycleMonday.

written by Emily on April 18, 2018 under

NBC changes mind: This Is Us won’t move to Thursdays this fall

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY – NBC is reversing one of the biggest scheduling shake-ups of the year.

After announcing to advertisers earlier this month that its breakout hit This Is Us will move from Tuesdays to Thursdays for its sophomore season this fall, NBC has decided to change its mind.

This Is Us will instead stay right where it is — at Tuesdays at 9 p.m.

Sources say the main reason for the decision change is that the show’s serialized storytelling would have been interrupted by NFL football coverage. Back on Tuesdays, the show will have a continuous run of 9 or 10 episodes. In the first season, NBC didn’t have more than 5 episodes in a row before a pre-emption, so apparently, they want to stick to roll-out plan that clearly is not broken.

Of course, NBC knew about its NFL schedule before the upfronts too, so the reversal is still a bit curious. Fall schedules can and do change between upfronts and the fall, but usually not so quickly or dramatically as this. “We went back and forth about [moving This Is Us to Thursday],” NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt told reporters earlier this month. “There’s a case to be made for keeping the show where it was. While it’s a little risky, there’s a bigger case to be made about redoing Thursday night.”

written by Emily on May 30, 2017 under

‘This Is Us’ Lands Post-Super Bowl Slot, Plans Christmas Special

VARIETY – “This is Us” is making a big move: NBC is moving the hit drama from Tuesdays to Thursday nights as part of a revival of their famous “Must See TV” programming strategy.

If there is one show we could move it would be this one,” explained NBC entertainment chair Bob Greenblatt of the show’s move to 9pm on Thursdays during a conference call with reporters. “There is a case for keeping the show where it was. It’s a little risky, but there’s a bigger case for redoing Thursday nights.”

Greenblatt also outlined extensive creative plans for season two of the drama, which is created by Dan Fogelman. A special edition of the show will air after the Super Bowl, on February 4, 2018. “We thought it was great for the number one sports franchise to be followed by the number one scripted franchise,” said Greenblatt.

The executive producers are also planning a special Christmas episode timed for the holidays, Greenblatt revealed.

Given the new Thursday timeslot, there will be interruptions to the “This Is Us” schedule for NFL games. The show will be on for six weeks, then off again for six weeks. “There will hopefully be some Pittsburgh Steelers games in there,” said Greenblatt,” since the team factors into the show. “I’d love the Steelers to go to the Super Bowl.”

This Is Us” will also face a break for the Olympics in February. “We’ve got some ideas to keep the show alive,” even when the show isn’t on the air, said Greenblatt. “The priority is how can we keep this is us alive as much as humanly possible as long as possible. And that’s what we’re going to try to do even with the interruptions that we’re going to have.”

written by Emily on May 15, 2017 under

The Contenders Emmys presented by Deadline

Hello Milo fans! Yesterday, Milo and his beautiful This Is Us co-star, Mandy Moore talked with Nellie Andreeva about This Is Us. I have added high quality photos of Milo during the green room, presentation panel, and some gorgeous shots in the photo studio to the gallery! Enjoy!

DEADLINE – Stars Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore were among the This Is Us panelists Sunday at Deadline’s The Contenders Emmys event. The series focuses on three adult siblings and their parents, partly in flashbacks, jumping from character to character and between decades. From creator Dan Fogelman, breakout freshman series also stars Sterling K. Brown, Chrissy Metz and Justin Hartley and got an early renewal, picked up for a second and third season in January.

Of course, a major part of making a show that spans many years using the same actors is the makeup. With the help of 12 prosthetic appliances, Moore, playing mom Rebecca Pearson, convincingly ages over a 40-year period.

“It was very important to have the makeup look realistic,” Head of Makeup Zoe Hay said during the panel. “You know, she’s a mom at home, she’s not going to look like a beauty ad in the ’80s.”

But that level of preparation can lead to grueling periods in the chair. “I like to help out with the hairdryer,” Moore said. “Otherwise I’m just sitting there for three to five hours.”

For Ventimiglia, as Rebecca’s husband Jack, facial hair was key to portraying different eras. “With Milo, we referred to beard-gate,” Hay joked. “We had a lot of dialogue about how we would transition him for each period. … We haven’t tried a trucker mustache yet!”

“It’s hard to find the materials these days to go back to the ’70s,” production designer Gary Frutkoff said. “You’ll find a high-end couch or chair, but Dan (Fogelman) from the beginning wanted a very blue-collar look to this family. … We’re always scouring Craigslist and prop houses.”

Frutkoff also said shooting in L.A. had its drawbacks — when depicting Thanksgiving in Pittsburgh, for example. “There’s a small digital budget for removing palm trees,” he said. “I’ve painted grass before. I’ve painted it green and I’ve painted it brown, but [L.A.’s] Griffith Park will not let you touch their grass, so you just have to live with it. When that episode airs, I’m usually at a bar somewhere.”

As for what we can look forward to in Season 2, Ventimiglia said: “There’s a lot happening for all of the Pearsons. Jack and Rebecca need to get their marriage on track because it’s crumbled and fractured.”

Added Moore: “I think some of the answers people are looking for will be at least satisfied and satiated at the beginning of next season.”

written by Emily on April 10, 2017 under

Milo Ventimiglia says ‘heartbreaking’ finale will ‘change the game’

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY – The last episode of This Is Us ended on a rather ominous note, as we watched a not-exactly-sober Jack hop in a car, apparently headed to Rebecca’s gig a few hours away to save his marriage. The final episode of This Is Us this season, titled “Moonshadow,” will show you the results of that ill-advised car ride. Will this be the event that sends him to the morgue? Milo Ventimiglia, the man who plays Jack, isn’t saying one way or another, but it sounds like he wants you to at least brace for that possibility when he tells EW: “People want to know what happens with Jack. This may be the time when they find out.”

Or this: “It’s almost like that drink is a bit of a truth serum and a relaxer to the way that he thinks, ‘I’m going to go get my wife back.’ And it’s a poor decision on his part that may lead to his death.”

Or definitely this: “Papa Pearson is very concerned for the audience right now.”

But the season finale — which was co-written by series creator Dan Fogelman and focuses primarily on the Pearson parents — also takes us deep into the past, specifically the year 1972, right before Jack meets Rebecca. “It’s an episode that goes beyond the Jack and Rebecca that we know,” says Ventimiglia.

Indeed, Jack returns from Vietnam and is having trouble making a living, and living at home with his parents. “That was a tough era for Vietnam vets — coming home from war, they weren’t welcomed with open arms,” says Ventimiglia. “A lot of them were spit on, and coming back troubled, having seen some pretty bad things. Even though it may appear that Jack was unscathed by it, I think there’s a deeper understanding to what Jack experienced that we may only see the surface of it and not know what lies beneath. He comes home from a war and ultimately, quietly, there’s a bit of a war at home. It’s no surprise that Jack has had a bad relationship with his father, and that continues.”

Rebecca (Mandy Moore), meanwhile, is pursuing a music career that hasn’t taken off, and she’s facing societal pressures to settle down with a husband. “All of her girlfriends are married, the eye on their prize is meeting marriage material, and Rebecca’s eye is on her music that isn’t quite going the way that she was hoping,” he says. “But at the same time that’s what she’s interested in and that’s where her focus lies…. It’s always about singing and being on a stage for her. “

Ventimiglia hints at a pair of scenes late in the episode that should have fans talking. “They change the game of what the show is,” says Ventimiglia. “They’re two incredibly impactful moments — one’s seeking conflict, and one’s seeking resolution. You may not completely disagree with the conflict, and you may not agree with the resolution, but they sit on complete opposite sides of one another.”

And how would he describe the overall vibe of the episode? “It’s definitely heartbreaking, but it has the Fogelman wink and a smile that will keep you thinking about what just happened. That’s been always the best part about – you can call them cliffhangers — with our show. There might have been only one, where you really have to know what happened, and that was: What happened to Toby? That was the one where you go, ‘Oh my god, I gotta wait four weeks? This is horrible! Screw you people!’ This one feels like it could potentially be a little more reflective. But I don’t think it diminishes the capacity of it in any way.”

Moonshadow” airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.

written by Emily on March 14, 2017 under

Milo Ventimiglia celebrates Jack’s life on ‘This Is Us’

USA TODAY – LOS ANGELES — This Is Us fans want to learn the details of Jack Pearson’s death, but Milo Ventimiglia, who plays the husband and father of three, has a different perspective.

Last week, NBC’s hit drama, which jumps between decades to show the Pearson family at various stages of life, hinted at Jack’s demise in a scene from the 1990s. In Tuesday’s first-season finale (9 ET/PT), he and wife Rebecca (Mandy Moore), get the spotlight, toggling between eras.

“Everyone, particularly now, is so focused on when he dies, how he dies, why he dies. I think the opposite. I think you focus on how he lives, why he lives,” Ventimiglia says. “None of us know when we’ll meet our ends. You just have to appreciate life and move positively through life.”

As Ventimiglia, 39, absorbs Jack’s unusual status as a central character who’s long deceased in the present day, the Heroes and Gilmore Girls alum understands the special nature of the critically acclaimed Us. The series, which has brought many viewers to tears with its emotionally charged scenes, received a rare two-season renewal, reflecting its status as TV’s No. 1 new series among young adults.

“With Heroes, it felt like we were there to entertain, whereas This Is Us feels like we’re doing important work,” he says. “When someone approaches me just to talk about how one moment in one episode got them to reach out to their adopted father or connect with their sibling, I feel like we are getting (people) to face themselves and then reflect a little differently.”

Ventimiglia praises Moore for helping to make the Pearsons’ marriage feel real. “Any of the struggle I’ve ever had with (interpreting) Jack, the second I look in Mandy’s eyes, I’m right there with her and I’m him,” he says. “The nice part has just been having Mandy to partner with, shoulder to shoulder, the whole time.”

Because Jack is dead in the present, Ventimiglia hasn’t shared screen time with series regulars Justin Hartley and Chrissy Metz, who play adult versions of his children, Kevin and Kate. (In one episode, he appeared in a hallucination to son Randall, played by Sterling K. Brown.)

“I do miss acting with people from the cast. It’s rare when you have such a talented group of performers assembled with such amazing material,” he says. “But I did a scene with Sterling, so I’m slowly going to rack them up, hopefully, over the entirety of the series.”

Ventimiglia — whose facial hair has been a useful guide to the show’s time jumps — and Moore have acted with infant, child and teen versions of the Pearson kids. Ventimiglia, who’s single and has no children, appreciates the rewards and demands of fatherhood, and he’s assumed a bit of a parental role with the young actors.

“I’m getting to exercise a muscle of fatherhood that I haven’t ever worked out myself,” he says. “I have nieces and nephews I care about. I want them to feel safe and take in all the good sides of life. That’s the way I approach working with these kids.”

Executive producer Ken Olin, who directed the season finale, credits Ventimiglia for providing early insight about “salt of the Earth” Jack, who is less lyrical in speech and expressive emotionally than some other Us characters.

“For Jack, Rebecca was enough, but that’s not who Rebecca is. Rebecca is unsettled and Jack has a certainty. Milo found that in the pilot,” says Olin, who has on- and off-screen expertise with such family dramas as ABC’s thirtysomething and Brothers & Sisters. “This character is so important to the show because he’s different.”

Although Jack is a decent man, whom Ventimiglia modeled on his own father, his family focus squelches his wife’s longtime dream of being a singer. He is hardly supportive when she goes on tour with a band, leaving him to care for their teens. “Jack isn’t jealous so much as he’s protective of his family structure,” Ventimiglia says.

Frustration leads to heavy drinking, a dangerous prelude when Jack decides to drive to his wife’s first tour stop at the end of last week’s episode. His inevitable death — which fans previously learned happens in that 1990s era — was further underlined in a present-day scene in which Kate blames herself for her father’s passing.

To avoid spoiling the finale, Ventimiglia gets philosophical when discussing Jack’s fate and future on a show where characters, including Randall’s biological father, William (Ron Cephas Jones), can die but continue to be seen in another era.

“I always go back to: The answer is going to reveal itself when it’s supposed to,” he says. “Even when we discover how Jack died, it doesn’t mean his story is ending, which is a nice thing about the show. There is no real end.”

written by Emily on March 14, 2017 under

Milo Ventimiglia for The Wrap

Milo recently did a photoshoot and interview with The Wrap. You can check out some amazing portraits in the gallery and watch the interview video below!

THE WRAP – Milo Ventimiglia knows one of the biggest secrets of NBC’s “This Is Us”: When and how his fan-favorite character Jack is going to die.

But just because we already know Jack Pearson will suffer an untimely fate, that doesn’t mean the character is going anywhere.

“I do know when you’re going to know, but just wait,” he told TheWrap’s Stuart Brazell. “You may get some teasers as to when, very soon. But I think the thing to know is that Jack’s time with his family is limited. But he’s not going anywhere because Jack and Rebecca are in the past, and reflect very much how they impact the Big Three in the present day. I think it’s safe to say that Jack will be around for the life of the show.”

That doesn’t mean it’s going to be smooth sailing for the Pearsons, of course, on this show known for its shocking twists and turns. Ventimiglia revealed the last 13 episodes of Season 1 are going to be even more of a roller coaster.

“We have another episode coming up, next week… some bombs are dropped,” he previewed. “Then we come back for 13 and I think a lot happens. It’s one of those things where it gets a pace, and then it just moves faster and faster going into that very, very explosive end of Episode 18.”

“This Is Us” airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.

written by Emily on January 18, 2017 under
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