This Is Us Went From Being an Abandoned Film Script to a Breakout Hit. Here’s What’s Next

Attending NBCUniversal’s upfront presentation last May, four days after NBC had picked up her pilot This Is Us, was a completely new experience for Mandy Moore. “Having been a part of pilot season for a number of years, but never having had a show picked up and actually go to upfronts, I was beyond thrilled. I had no idea that NBC took over Radio City Music Hall and what a gigantic production it was,” says Moore, who walked the red carpet that day with her new co-stars Milo Ventimiglia and Sterling K. Brown. “We were so excited. It felt like a celebration.”