This Is Us Final Season Will Air Largely Uninterrupted, to 'Honor' Patient Fans

This Is Us‘ patient fans, who this TV season have dealt with numerous multi-week breaks, will be rewarded with a nearly non-stop farewell run.

As revealed with NBC’s full schedule for the 2021-22 TV season, This Is Us‘ sixth and final season is being held for midseason/early 2022, at which point its 18 episodes will unspool largely uninterrupted.

“Obviously because of COVID this year, [This Is Us‘] schedule has been on-and-off,” Susan Rovner, NBC Universal Television’s Chairman of Entertainment, acknowledged to TVLine in a Friday conference call, “and we want to honor the fans by making sure have the best viewing experience possible” for the acclaimed family drama’s farewell run.

“By putting it at midseason, we’ll have the least interruptions possible,” Rovner explained. “I think it’ll be a great event for the fans to enjoy this incredible show.”

Because of COVID-related production delays, This Is Us‘ current season has at most (and only once) aired new episodes three weeks in a row. Following its fourth episode, the show went on a seven-week holiday break, and there have been several three-week (or longer) breaks since. All told, Season 5 was trimmed by by two episodes, to 16.

As for what sort of grand finale run fans can expect, Rovner ventured that in series creator Dan Fogelman’s hands, “I think it’s going to be fantastic.”