This Is Us Has Big Plans for Miguel in Season 3

This Is Us fans have been hot and cold with Miguel since the show first premiered, and we get that. It’s not easy to throw your support behind the character who is not only playing a stepdad, but playing the stepdad who happened to be the former best friend of Jack Pearson — maybe the greatest TV dad in recent memory. But in season three of This Is Us, fans who have opposed Miguel’s marriage to Rebecca Pearson might change their tune with the character developments series creator Dan Fogelman has in store.

More: This Is Us Season 3 Is Bringing Jack Back in an Important Way

Speaking to Deadline last Thursday, Fogelman teased a time jump into the past to more fully explore Jack’s service in Vietnam. He also said, “We’re going to dive deeper into that this season and begin this long play of making people actually start rooting for Miguel in a serious way, which I think will be really exciting when we pull it off.”

Fogelman certainly sounds confident about the shift in attitude. A more sympathetic storyline for Miguel could go a long way toward getting fans to root for him without forgetting their love for Jack Pearson — whose death is still fresh in fans’ minds after the cause was finally revealed in season two. So, how are Fogelman and co. going to pull this off?

“When we’re picking up that particular storyline, [with] the teenage kids, we’re picking it up pretty immediately a couple of months after their father’s death,” he told Deadline. “You’re seeing the beginning of a storyline where Miguel starts trying to help this family along, this character who has always been polarizing. I think last season, people actually started to love him, and then started to hate themselves for loving him. But then, they gradually figured out that this guy really has done nothing untoward and is a guy trying to do the right thing.”

More: The First This Is Us Season 3 Picture Is Here, & It’s All About Randall & Beth

Hmm. That doesn’t really answer our questions, but Fogelman is a master of teasing and misdirecting fans so the emotional payoffs are as intense as possible. This Is Us season three is sure to be an incredible run of the show, especially with all those planned time jumps to the past and future. We’re still not sure how the new direction for Miguel will pan out, but we remain hopeful if Fogelman is the man engineering it.