'This Is Us' Star Milo Ventimiglia on His Character's Future: 'I've been dead from the get-go'

Cue a sigh of relief. Milo Ventimiglia has assured This Is Us fans that his days on the hit tear-jerking drama are far from over. This revelation will likely help mend the millions of hearts left broken after Sunday (Feb. 4) night’s emotional post-Super Bowl episode, in which viewers finally learned how the actor’s character Jack Pearson died. “I’ve been dead from the get-go,” he explained in a candid new interview with Esquire, adding, “and though we’re now showing the death, we’re still going to be bouncing around in different timelines. This is not the end of Jack.”

This means fans can expect to see more touching and teaching moments from the devoted dad, who, says Milo, has become more than just a fictional father figure. “People want to hug me, and they want advice. I guess I’ve taken over from Mr. Cunningham [of Happy Days] and Mr. Arnold [of The Wonder Years] as America’s father, so people are often looking for that parental feeling.”

And just because his character’s death will finally be addressed in detail, that doesn’t mean there isn’t more of Jack’s story left to explore. “There are so many questions with Jack. His upbringing, what happened to him in Vietnam, what happened to him after Vietnam before he met Rebecca?” notes the actor, adding that fans can soon expect to see his relationship with his brother play out – “That’s going to come up relatively quickly.” The 40-year-old insists that he isn’t dwelling in grief, instead, he says he is “excited to focus on how Jack lived as opposed to worrying about how he died.”

Since the show’s debut in 2016, its remarkable cast, including Milo, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown, Chrissy Metz and Justin Hartley have been nothing but #friendshipgoals. Their unbreakable bond was on display last month when they won the SAG award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, plus they bombarb each other with tweets of praise after every episode. Milo even credits his on-screen wife for all of his success. “Any love that anyone wants to give for my playing of Jack, I just want to move it over to her,” he told Esquire. He also dished out some love to his kids – the Big Three. “We’re all friends, but I don’t usually get to spend time with them when the cameras are rolling. So those rare scenes when I do, the easiest way to put it is that I try to slow down time,” said the actor.

Now that he has assured fans that he isn’t leaving primetime anytime soon, what’s next for the handsome actor? Just a little role playing Jennifer Lopez’s boyfriend in the feature film Second Act. The romantic comedy, which also starts Lea Remini and Vanessa Hudgens, is set to hit theatres later this year.