‘This Is Us’ Casts ‘Cosby Show’ Star Phylicia Rashad as Beth’s Mom

Clair Huxtable is joining the Pearson family during an upcoming episode of NBC‘s This Is Us.

Actress Phylicia Rashad, best known for her starring role during eight seasons of The Cosby Show, will join the hit NBC drama as Beth’s mother, first in a bottle episode that will focus primarily on Beth’s (Susan Kelechi Watson) backstory.

As first reported by TVLine, Carol (Rashad) will make her debut on Episode 12.

“We had conversations with them telling the direction we were going in, what Beth was like in the past and what’s going to happen for her in the future, that type of thing,” Watson previously teased back in December 2018. “We have a really great new writer Eboni Freeman, [who is] the main writer on it, and some of it is her story, very personal to her. They found a way to create this really beautiful backstory, and a beginning of a resolution of Beth starting to get back on her footing again. And then we have some amazing surprises in it. It’s going to be a really powerful episode.”

In addition to her starring role as Clair Huxtable — which earned Rashad multiple Emmy nominations in the past — Rashad has also made appearances on other television series like Psych and Do No Harm.

The actress also has a standout recurring role on Fox’s Empire as the villainous Diana Dubois.

The upcoming Beth-centric episode comes as one of the drama series’ most beloved characters faces a crossroads in her life. Early in the season Beth was laid off from her job and was seen struggling with insecurity as she attempted to apply for new jobs in her field. The tension reached her relationships at home when she lost her patience toward her daughters in an awkward girl scout cookie interaction.

She then joined Randall’s (Sterling K. Brown) political campaign and seemed to be on board, until the polls revealed that he had no chance of winning the race this year and Beth and Randall fought about whether or not they should keep going with the task, especially after Tess came out to her parents in the middle of the argument.

The NBC drama left fans with more questions about Randall and Beth when it revealed in the flash forward that the couple might have gotten separated. The future revealed Beth as a dance instructor and late to meeting Randall and grown-up Tess on their way to go see Rebecca (Mandy Moore) — who was revealed to be the mysterious “her” teased since the Season 2 finale.

This Is Us returns with new episodes Tuesday, Jan. 15 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.