What's Next for This Is Us' Toby and Kate?

Get the scoop on what's to come on NBC's hit drama

By Chris Harnick Jan 11, 2017 2:34 PMTags
This Is Us, Chris SullivanNBC

This Is Us fans were crying tears of joy (and a little sadness) during "The Right Thing to Do" when the NBC drama revealed the fate of Toby (Chris Sullivan). The Christmas episode ended with Toby collapsing, he had a heart attack during the Pearson family's Christmas festivities. Would he make it out of surgery? Fans were left to wonder about his fate for weeks, but within the first five minutes of the midseason premiere fans learned that Toby…

Lives!

"[Chris Sullivan] seems very happy to be alive. He also seems to be taking great pleasure in teasing everybody about what happened to him," creator Dan Fogelman told EW.

photos
18 Winners and Losers of the 2016 Fall TV Season

"#WeMadeIt #ThisIsUs," Sullivan tweeted.

There was never any question for Sullivan, the scripts for episode 10 and 11 came right on top of each other.

"We had conversations early on about what would be Toby's fate; we always knew he was going to have this kind of collapse halfway through the first season. We decided pretty early on that he would make it," Fogelman told The Hollywood Reporter. "We had a lot of illness and potential death touching this family, and it didn't feel like we could let go of Chris Sullivan. Before we ever started airing, we knew he was going to make it."

While in the hospital visiting Toby after another heart surgery, Kate (Chrissy Metz) confesses her love to him and proclaims she wants to spend the rest of her life with him.

Watch
Chrissy Metz Opens Up on the Major "This Is Us" Cliffhanger
Ron Batzdorff/NBC

"She's like, ‘You know what? I'm not going to let him go. I can't let him go'…The ego is removed and its just like, ‘How do we start our lives together in the best way we can?' It's so romantic," Metz said in the This Is Us after show.

But it's not going to be smooth sailing for Toby now that the surgery is completed. This is This Is Us after all.

"He's got a little bit of a recovery process, and it's going to keep him in New York for a little bit because the doctor doesn't want him traveling. Toby's medical recovery isn't where we spend a ton of our time this second half, but it's all part of the bigger story of Kate and Toby's relationship. It's a lovely and often romantic-comedy-esque relationship between them," Fogelman told THR. "Decisions got made really quickly, and they're very up and down. They continue to be struck by these obstacles that force their relationship to either move too slowly or too quickly. That's the main takeaway from the heart attack in the episode, in terms of this bedside proposal and what comes next."

This Is Us airs Tuesdays, 9 p.m. on NBC.

(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)