Chrissy Metz Is Taking on a New Job for ‘This Is Us’ Season 6

This Is Us actress Chrissy Metz is a fan-favorite star of the hit family drama, but she’ll be taking on a new job for the show’s upcoming sixth season. In addition to her main cast role, Metz is adding “co-writer” to her This Is Us resume. “I’m co-writing one episode this year,” the 41-year-old recently shared in an interview with PEOPLE. “It’s really exciting to support fellow actors and people that you love trying new things. For me in particular, obviously, writing has been a very new venture, but I’m very excited.”

The new opportunity is a “massive deal” to Metz, who is also an accomplished singer-songwriter. Notably, her musical background is something that Metz feels helped her be able to take on the challenge of co-writing a This Is Us script. “It’s really exciting because I think it’s helping my songwriting, which is really great, and also understanding characters and writing for their voices,” she explained. “Also [series creator] Dan [Fogelman] is such a great mentor, and I get to write with Casey Gettinger and David Windsor, who are our writing team. It’s been really wonderful.”

Metz also addressed the show ending and shared how she’s feeling about it currently. “I’ll be sitting there about to put a scene up and I’m like, ‘Oh, this is the last time that I might be doing this. Or the last time we’re at this location,’” she said. “I have to suppress those feelings because it might not be conducive to the scene.”

“I want to really enjoy and relish the moments that I do have as opposed to just crying through them, so it’s weird,” Metz continued. “Also, I feel like it’s a story that could go on forever, so part of my delusional mind is like, ‘Oh, it’s not really ending.’ Part of me is trying to just protect myself.” She then added, “It’s been so much fun and there is a lightness to everything, even though all of the storylines are getting very heavy or deep. There’s just this ease with the cast that’s really nice so it’s all the feelings, it’s all the things.”

Finally, Metz spoke about her castmates taking on new roles at This Is Us, which includes actor Chris Sullivan — her onscreen husband — landing in the director’s chair for a forthcoming episode. “We are really close to these characters and to these stories. When the actors are writing or the actors are directing, it’s nice for it all to be shared and go around,” Metz said. “Once everybody shared their desire to want to write or to direct, Dan was like, ‘Yeah, absolutely.’ He’s just been so instrumental. This Is Us Season 6 is set to premiere in early 2022, only on NBC.