‘This Is Us’ Showrunner Shares First Look at ‘2020 Television Sex Scene’

This Is Us showrunner Dan Fogelman has shared the first look at what he calls the “2020 television sex scene.” In the photo posted to Twitter, This Is Us stars Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore are shown standing six feet apart, while pointing at one another, and wearing face masks. This is clearly a joke about the safety measures that Hollywood productions are having to take amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Fans of the hit NBC drama will be excited to know that This Is Us is returning soon than expected. Season 5 will debut on 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Oct. 27, with a special two-hour episode. Season 4 had completely finished shooting before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, with the season finale airing in March. The series started production on Season 5 this month, with Fogelman, who is also the series creator, telling Entertainment Weekly how they plan to address what we are all facing in the real world.

“We have a carefully crafted plan through six seasons of the television show that hundreds of people have now devoted for four-plus years of their lives executing,” he explained. “And we’re going to execute that plan, no matter what’s happening in the world. What’s happening in the world may shift the details of how things happen, but the big moves continue to happen — and actually potentially heighten and make better the television show then maybe some of our initial plans, because that’s our job. Here are the new rules we’ve been given. How do we continue to try and top ourselves and make things even better than they were?”

Another import aspect of This Is Us Season 5, is that it will also acknowledge the Black Lives Matter movement. Sterling K. Brown, who plays Randall in This Is Us, told PEOPLE that the first two episodes of Season 5 are “outstanding” achievements. “It was as huge from a writer’s perspective as it was from mine,” he shared. “I think Randall offers such a unique perspective. Being a Black man raised in a white family, there’s a very specific prism through which he sees the world, and I think the writers have captured it brilliantly.”

He went on to say, “Our first two episodes are outstanding. As long as we, as actors, are able to execute what the writing has provided us an opportunity to do. I think our fans will be very, very, very happy.”