This Is Us season 3: Chrissy Metz warns future Randall-Tess cliffhanger resolution is 'not good'

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In addition to heartstring pulls, This Is Us is known for its twists, turns, and time jumps. And when the end of the season 2 finale of the NBC family drama flashed forward instead of back, offering up another peek into the distant future, so began a healthy guessing game about a conversation between old Randall and adult Tess — specifically, the woman they were talking about.

In a flash-forward at the end of the March 13 episode, viewers once again spotted Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and adult Tess (Iantha Richardson), who were seen in the post-Super Bowl episode meeting up for lunch. This time, though, there were no smiles. "It's time to go see her," Randall told Tess, who responded, "I'm not ready." Randall seemed to share that sentiment, saying, "I'm not either."

Image zoom NBC; Inset: Ron Batzdorff/NBC

Who is "her"? (Beth? Deja? Annie?) And what happened to her? And why the reluctance from Tess and Randall to see her? When EW broached the topic with star Chrissy Metz, opening with the fact that the cast does indeed know the answer to this riddle, she quipped, "Ooooh! I didn't know you knew that part. Oh, I gotta go!" Before she hung up the phone, she tried to oblige and drop a hint about this mystery person's identity — and what possibly might have transpired. (Are Tess and Randall talking about visiting someone's grave?) "It's something you'd… nobody… it's not good," says Metz, whose Kate had her hands full in a different time-jumping cliffhanger.

It's not good? "It's…no," she says, trying again. "It's actually very heartbreaking."

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Given that the season 2 finale again pushed us 20 years into the future, here's another question: Where might we find Kate 20 years into the future? Have the writers hinted to Metz that she might need to hit the makeup chair early next season for a scene set in that era? "Oh, I hope so!" she says. "There hasn't been much mention of aging up. I feel like Kate's on the path of nurturing — not like as a therapist or doing music therapy, but I feel like she has a lot of love to give, so I don't know how that's going to be pointed."

To read what Metz had to say about the Jack scene she filmed for the finale that didn't air, click here.

To see what she revealed about Toby's depression in that finale flash-forward, click here.