This rumor about more tragedy striking This Is Us better be false

The rumor mill has been buzzing that a This Is Us character will be diagnosed with terminal cancer by the end of Season 2. This doesn’t make sense.

What’s a drama series to do after it just wracked its viewers with some of its most devastating episodes to date? Slap on another bandage and rip it right off. If the rumors about This Is Us are to believed, fans should expect more tragedy to strike before Season 2 ends this spring. Don’t put those tissues away for Season 3 yet. You might need them when the show returns.

A blind item has been making the rounds around sites such as Hollywood Life, and it suggests that a character on This Is Us will find themselves diagnosed with terminal cancer prior to the second season’s conclusion. Now, let’s take this chatter with a grain of salt as nothing has been confirmed. But the possibility that another major character could meet a tragic ending isn’t an option This Is Us should consider.

For starters, the series wrapped the story of Jack’s death in the previous string of episodes. It’s far too soon to introduce a second helping of tragedy, and one that could potentially redefine heartbreaking for the Pearson family. Not to mention, This Is Us explored the traumatic effects of cancer last season with William. Why, oh why, does the series need to cover this again?

Admittedly, This Is Us has a responsibility to represent reality with an unprecedented honesty. Many families experience the unforeseen arrival of cancer in their lives every day, and watching their stories unfold in a careful way on television is the kind of art that helps them through it. Still, I can’t help but return to the feeling that a terminal diagnosis for a major character reads like a contrived plot device.

Next: 5 things we want to see when Sterling K. Brown hosts Saturday Night Live

On the other hand, it would explain why Deja returned to Beth and Randall’s home with her mother in tow. Maybe her mother received the news about her health and they’re turning to the Pearsons to help them through it. There’s also an argument to be made that Beth could have been the one receiving the bad news, and that’s why she wasn’t in the flash forward with Randall and grown-up Tess.

However, speculation such as this is morbid and ultimately unproductive. Let’s hope that at the end of the day, the rumors about This Is Us giving one of its characters terminal cancer winds up untrue or as a story that doesn’t overwhelm the narrative with even more tear-filled tragedy. What do you think? Let us know your thoughts in the comments and on Twitter at @thisisuscrying!

This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC.