Warning! Spoilers ahead for This Is Us season 6, episode 2.
NBC's This Is Us theory about Nicky's relationship with Rebecca (Mandy Moore).
Properly introduced in This Is Us season 3 after building the mystery of Jack's family history and subsequent time in Vietnam, Nicky has become a recurring character in the show. After mostly spending time on his own and refusing to engage with Rebecca and the Big Three, he finally changed his mind and decided to get to know them. He was initially only drawn to Kevin (Justin Hartley), but as he spent more time with his brother's clan, he began genuinely liking them. Their bond is only going to get stronger moving forward as Nicky is among the few people who was revealed to be at Rebecca's death bed in the show's ending.
Since first showing the particular flashforward of the family gathering at Kevin's cabin house in the introducing Nicky's wife, Edie (Vanessa Bell Calloways), this hypothesis has been effectively debunked.
It was one of the rare episodes in This Is Us where the primary focus wasn't on the Big Three, and considering what's known about its final season's story, it won't be surprising if it turns out not to be the last. The show may have debuted Edie, but her arrival poses new questions about Nicky's own love affair after pining for an old acquaintance for 50 years. It's imperative that This Is Us eventually tackles the progression of their romance especially since they met through a chance encounter. Aside from that, the series also needs to tackle and fix Rebecca and Miguel's story — something that NBC has danced around for a while now in an effort to preserve Jack's position in the narrative. This is all on top of the Pearson matriarch's worsening health condition.
There are still a string of loose plotlines that the show needs to address before it fully wraps up. Edie's arrival effectively adds to that as people understandably want to know more about her and her relationship with Nicky, even as it dispels some of the more romantic theories concocted about the storyline. Perhaps it could even become one of This Is Us' signature love stories by the end.
This Is Us' final season airs every Tuesday on NBC.