"This Is Us" star Chrissy Metz says viewers will learn a lot more about her character Kate Pearson's past in the show's upcoming season.
"There is a story, a through line, coming down the pike about some experiences that shaped Kate as a woman, as an adult, that we haven't seen yet," Metz, 39, told People Now this week.
The Emmy-nominated actress recalled speaking with show creator Dan Fogelman about Kate's upcoming storyline, which she said centers on "trauma."
"I remember Dan giving me a call and he's like, 'How do you feel about this? Are you going to be able to tackle this? How are you going to feel about it?' I'm like, 'No let's do it, I think it's super important,'" she shared. "While I won't give away what it is exactly, it's something that we haven't seen and we had no idea that Kate went through."
The season four finale showed big changes in store for Kate and her husband, Toby (Chris Sullivan). A series of flash-forward sequences introduced viewers to an art curator named Hailey (Adelaide Kane) who Kate and Toby's adult son, Jack, introduces as his sister.
Viewers also learned last season that Kate had an abusive ex-boyfriend named Marc. Though we saw how the relationship ultimately ended, there's still a lot of mystery about how Marc's actions affected Kate.
Fogelman previously told People that the season five premiere, which has no air date yet, would feature "something big."
"I'm very excited about, especially with where the world is right now, the uplift, and I would call it almost rebirth, that comes next season," he said. "Kind of rebirth and a lot of new beginnings, particularly for birth and rebirth would be a big thematic part of next season."