Prepare to Cry Buckets: Parenthood Cast Talks Joel and Julia and the Rumored Big Death

Is there any hope for a happy ending? We're skeptical...

Parenthood's final season is taking the tears to a whole new level, and don't expect anything but to cry your ever loving eyes out before it's all over!

 Tonight, we see what happens next with Joel and Julia, and Sam Jaeger (Joel) is….hopeful.

 "At the end of the last episode," Jaeger told me during a visit to the show's set, "it was the first time that it was extremely clear where Joel stood, and so I think that has to open the door! There are six episodes left to air and we haven't even shot all of them, and you know how much can happen in every single episode, so there's a lot left to go through before we get to the end of this thing, so I don't know. But we have our fingers crossed."

 

And perhaps this can offer some…solace? The big boss man himself, Jason Katims, reveals that the Joel and Julia storyline won't be left open-ended when the series ends.

"There's a handful of episodes left so we're not ruling out a happy ending at all," Katims told me. "We're definitely going to come to a conclusion with that story."

Katims jokingly apologized for making Julia and Joel fans suffer during his 100th episode celebration toast, but I wanted more answers to the biggest Julia and Joel question: Why can't they just be happy and boring?!  "The reason we wanted to tell that story was because we really wanted to give actors opportunity to branch out and do things they haven't done before," Katims explained. "Julia and Joel always seemed to kiss and make up at the end of every episode and I wanted to explore something different with them and challenge the actors."

And challenge the fans' therapists, amiright P'hood lovers?

All that said, it's the rumored big death that really might gut you before the series ends.

And according to Craig T. Nelson, not everyone in the cast is loving the death storyline. "We've had a lot of dialogue about this behind the scenes and there have been some contentiousness," Craig told me. "We don't exactly know what it is but the lead up to whatever it is has been so emotional for both of us that it's not really good for you. It's not healthy, health wise, at our age. Or mine, I should say. I don't know. I'm not the best to talk to about it. I don't like it. I don't like it."

And there's that lump back in my throat...

Check out our video interviews with the cast above and below! See what the other cast members have to say about the death....