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'This Is Us' creator shares pic from 1st day filming final season: 'Feeling feelings'

It’s the last first day of “This is Us,” and we’re not emotionally ready.
This is Us - Season 5
Mandy Moore plays Rebecca Pearson in a scene from the fifth season of "This Is Us."NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
/ Source: TODAY

"This is Us” just returned to production for its sixth and final season — meaning that Thursday was the last first day of filming.

Show creator Dan Fogelman shared a picture from set with fans.

“Last first day. Feeling feelings,” he captioned the photo of Mandy Moore and Milo Ventimiglia, who play Rebecca and Jack respectively. The two are standing in their kitchen in an embrace. It’s not exactly clear what year it is — the show flashes between the past and present — but Ventimiglia’s character has died in all contemporary scenes.

Earlier this year, when NBC announced the show would wrap at the end of the sixth season, Fogelman promised fans "This Is Us" would conclude how they "always intended."

"Whoever casually first said 'All good things must come to an end' never had to end their favorite thing," he tweeted in May. "While sad to have just 1 season left, also grateful to NBC for letting us end the show how, and when, we always intended. We'll work hard to stick the landing."

Mandymoore / Instagram

That same month, Moore told the 3rd hour of TODAY that she wasn’t “ready to accept that this is the end.”

“I know we have 18 more episodes. We haven’t started shooting our final season yet, but this is the best job I’ve ever had and the fact that I won’t be with this work family anymore, it’s devastating. It’s heartbreaking for us, too.”

She added that she had been “holding out hope” that Fogelman would change his mind and extend the show, but he’s been “very steadfast from the beginning that this show is six seasons.”

“We have a story that we’re sort of working towards, so it’s challenging to sort of stretch that in any way,” she explained.

Thursday, Moore also shared a few snaps from set to her Instagram story. One showed tape on the floor marking where she was supposed to stand and the second picture showed Moore breastfeeding her son, August, who was born in February.

“Back at work and grateful to have little man with me,” she captioned the picture.

“This Is Us” is slated to return to airwaves midway through the 2021-2022 season (early 2022) to give fans an uninterrupted viewing experience after COVID-19 production-related delays caused several viewing issues last season and forced the show to cut two episodes.

The upcoming season will be 18 episodes, Fogelman confirmed in August.

TV Line reports Susan Rovner, NBC Universal Television’s chairman of entertainment, said they hoped the mid-season premiere would “honor the fans by making sure have the best viewing experience possible.”

“By putting it at midseason, we’ll have the least interruptions possible,” Rovner told the outlet in May. “I think it’ll be a great event for the fans to enjoy this incredible show.”