This Is Us: Milo Ventimiglia talks Jack's fate 

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SPOILER ALERT: This story contains plot details from Tuesday’s episode of This Is Us, “The Game Plan.”

Ending weeks of speculation, the emotionally charged “The Game Plan” revealed that Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) is indeed dead, now a collection of ashes in a golden urn resting over the fireplace in daughter Kate’s living room, where she sweetly, dutifully watches football with him every Sunday. Does this development provide an explanation as to why his wife, Rebecca (Mandy Moore) might be married to Jack’s best friend, Miguel (Jon Huertas)? It does, though not a full one. It also confirms that there will be no happily ever after for the patriarch and matriarch of this epic family love story that you can’t help but root for. (And if you caught last week’s episode, “The Pool,” you know that the Big Three are losing a fun, inspirational, if still-figuring-it-all-out father with a gift for kid connection.)

What did Ventimiglia think about the revelation, which was unspooled as Kate (Chrissy Metz) finally allowed Toby (Chris Sullivan) to join her in her weekly ritual? How much more of Jack (in corporeal form) will we get to see? How did he feel about Toby outfitting Jack with some Steelers gear? EW dialed the dearly departed to discuss “The Game Plan.”

(To read what series creator Dan Fogelman had to say about the episode, click here.)

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The secret is finally out. How do you feel? Any sense of relief that you can talk about it now — at least partially?

MILO VENTIMIGLIA: Yeah, I think a sense of relief, almost like the reveal of the pilot and you understand that this is a family… I guess there is a bit of relief, but it’s also knowing that I’m never going to be with my kids in the present day.

It’s a little bittersweet. I think it’s great that everybody understands where Jack is and what it means, but at the same time, I personally think about, “Well, that means that Jack isn’t around his kids in the present day. When did that happen? When did he pass? At what point did his lessons to those kids stop? Do they take him as just a memory?” Those are the things that I start to consider and wonder.

Before we get into that, let’s back up for a second. The original version of the pilot had a line that revealed that Jack was dead. Did you find out that he wasn’t alive in your first meeting with [series creator] Dan Fogelman, and what was your reaction to that?

No. I didn’t know. Honestly I hadn’t any idea that Jack was gone until after the pilot had been picked up and Dan started explaining more to us actors the idea where he wanted to go in the series. When Dan told me, he goes, “Yeah, Jack dies.” He of course told me when — I know when it all happens — but he said, “But it doesn’t mean you’re not on the show, Milo. You’re still here, but what we want to do is explore that idea of when the lessons of the parent

. When you have given all you can to those kids and they move forward in life of their own making.”

What did you think of the urn story as a way to reveal Jack’s death and illustrate the deep connection between Kate and Jack?

Jack’s a lot smaller than people thought he would be in present day. [

.] One of my best friends was like, “Even though you weren’t in that scene, I keep picturing you in the scene in that little jar, just little.”

Did the producers talk about different ways that they might reveal his death?

Originally I thought it was going to be revealed in the pilot with the line when Randall says, “My dad’s not here anymore,” and then William says, “Your father must have been very proud of you.” [That exchange was in an early version of the pilot but was cut before it aired.] How it came up that it was just going to be through Kate and football and that connection — it was a surprise to me, but an exciting surprise. It reflects on how much Jack meant to his kids, how impactful he was on his children, and even in death he still is a positive impact on them.

Cool move when Toby put the Steelers hat on your urn?

I do approve. I do approve of Toby. He’s a good guy. He loves my daughter, and that’s what’s important.

As you mentioned, we found out only that he’s dead, not how or when he died. What can you hint about that in terms of when those bits of information will come out? And what do you think about the way that they’re planning to do it? How would you sum up the emotional power of that moment?

. I think there’s going to be a whole lot of disrepair and repair that happens between where we see Jack now as well as where his end is met. Of course, at this point, there’s going to be speculation as opposed to the acceptance of, “Oh wow, Jack’s not around.” I would urge people to not worry too much about how and when, and just accept that Jack has limited time, and know that every moment he has with his kids, with his wife, is going to be the most important thing to him.

That’s good advice. What did you think, though, of Dan’s pitch about how Jack ultimately did meet his maker?

There hasn’t been one thing that Dan has offered up to me that I haven’t seen a good truth in the character with. He’s very

with his choices and leading this family on the journey that they’re on, and I think he absolutely hit the mark with where Jack ultimately does meet his end.

In one way the information we got explains a little more of Rebecca showing up with Miguel at Randall’s house in the present day and still wearing the necklace, but it doesn’t definitively confirm that the only reason that she’s with Miguel is because he passed away. There still could have been events before he passed away.

You said to people who were jumping to conclusions about Miguel to “just wait.” What would you say about Rebecca ending up with Miguel, with the new information we have?

don’t even know about. I don’t know how that road is paved, so to say. I’m not sure, and not to take the ignorant road, but I’m like, “Well, Jack passed on, and hopefully he had a good relationship with his best friend and things were on the up and up with his then-wife…” But at that point, Jack is a memory. It’s out of Jack’s hands.

People are still trying to figure out what to make of Miguel…

And that’s the thing. There’s a lot to discover about who Miguel is and how he was involved in the family’s life. That’s where we are even still building from, just nine, ten episodes [into filming], there’s still a lot that’s going to be happening in the past with Miguel and Jack and Rebecca, as well as in the present day. You’re going to learn a lot more about him as you see he’s just “Grandpa” to little Tess and Annie.

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