‘This Is Us’ started as a movie about sextuplets, says creator Dan Fogelman

The Big Three of ‘This Is Us’ began as the Big Six of ‘36,’ according to Dan Fogelman.

It’s hard to imagine the story of the Pearsons told any other way than what we’ve seen so far on NBC’s This Is Us. The first season — and we’re willing to bet the second and third — that Dan Fogelman and the exceptional cast has created has been the perfect way and pace to see their stories unfold.

But, as it turns out, This Is Us started as a movie about sextuplets and it wasn’t until the Fogelman considered the script in the context of TV that it really came to life and clicked.

Speaking to Deadline, Fogelman said that This Is Us began as an “unfinished feature script about sextuplets titled 36.” It featured seven characters with the same birthday and at the end of the film, it would be revealed that Jack and Rebecca had given birth to the sextuplets 36 years before. (Hence the ’36.’) Or, as Fogelman put it, it was “kind of a Sixth Sense-type ending with babies.”

But, as he went on to describe, most importantly 36 had the same heart and spirit, it came from the same place, as This Is Us:

"I was in my late 30s at the time—about 38—and I was struck by how wildly different the lives of my peers could be, even though we were all the same age. I had friends who were married, some single. Some had preteen children, others none. Some were satisfied in their careers, others less so. Some had experienced great loss—of parents, of friends—others hadn’t even lost a grandparent. And I thought, I’m going to write something about all these people, all exactly the same age and born on the same day. Halfway through I thought, Huh, maybe one story is the parents of all the others. Then I just sat down and wrote."

That spirit is what has resonated so seriously with fans and it’s also how This Is Us finally got its name. Resistant to “untitled Dan Fogelman project,” Fogelman leaned heavily on 36 — even though no one liked it. Ultimately, the very pitch of the show — “it’s a show about us” — led to the title.

But even before they settled on the a project name, Fogelman had to consider writing for TV before he returned to what he originally wrote off as a waste of six months:

"And suddenly I was excited to write it again, not just because it could be shorter and was almost done—though that was enticing too—but because suddenly I didn’t need an ending. The ending was just a beginning, and the thing I liked most about the script—the characters—they could keep evolving over many, many stories. And you could see how the family grows and informs itself over years and different time periods. As soon as that locked in, I knew I was going to do it."

Of course, cutting down the number of characters no doubt makes sense. The focus and attention to detail that This Is Us has provided each of the Pearson children — and the story of their parents as well — would not be possible with six, even in the extended television form.