- The season two finale promo for "This Is Us" teased an older Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia).
- Fans were confused because Jack died on the show in the prime of his life.
- Ventimiglia told INSIDER it took three hours for him to transform into the Jack you see in the season two finale.
- He wore prosthetics, a lot of makeup, and a wig and goatee. That wasn't all his own facial hair.
The season finale promo for "This Is Us" surprised fans when it teased an older Jack Pearson with gray hair and not even star Milo Ventimiglia saw it coming.
"I never thought we were going to get an older version of Jack," Ventimiglia told INSIDER. "It was exciting."
Ventimiglia's character died earlier this season from a heart attack brought about from too much smoke inhalation in a house fire, so it was unexpected to see a present-day Jack at his daughter's wedding. It's not clear yet whether or not his appearance will be part of a dream sequence or vision.
What did it take to transform papa Pearson into a 70-something year old man?
"The process is about three hours to put on and then it's about an hour to take off," said Ventimiglia. "I've seen Mandy [Moore] go through it quite a bit this season and we saw Sterling go through it, so I felt like I earned a stripe being able to say I'm now playing an aged version of Jack."
Sterling K. Brown, who plays Randall on the NBC series was aged quite a few years recently in a brief flash-forward. Brown recently told INSIDER it takes him three hours to transform into his older counterpart.
Although we know the 40-year-old actor can grow a beard and has a great head of hair, Ventimiglia says his transformation involves putting on a wig and some fake facial hair.
"There's a lot of painting a skin tone and then there are prosthetics and, of course, because I've got a lot of different facial hair looks in the show, we had to add the goatee and then there's a wig on top of all that and glasses," he said. "Then you put the clothes and everything in there and transform into a gentleman in his 70s."
Ventimiglia was a little taken aback with the results.
"It was interesting. It was both inspiring and enlightening — inspiring to see this older version of a man that the audience has embraced so much, and enlightening just thinking, 'Wow, I wonder the life that's been lived to earn the wrinkles, to earn the gray, to earn the eyesight that narrows,'" he said.
Unfortunately, as viewers know, we'll have to just imagine that life. (Unless "This Is Us" decides to give us a heartbreaking what-if episode.)
Pearson's death earlier this season came partially as the result of Jack and Rebecca forgetting to pick up batteries, something that seemed silly, but that Ventimiglia says is relatable.
"It seemed, dare I say it, right?" Ventimiglia said of the simple mistake that ultimately led to Jack's demise. "There are these things that we get so occupied in life with that become the most impactful of our lives. Something as simple as Jack and Rebecca forgetting batteries at the mall contributes to Jack's death."
For that reason, the "This Is Us" actor fittingly partnered with Duracell to remind others to check and change the batteries in their smoke detectors.
If you're currently missing the Pearson dad on "This Is Us," Ventimiglia assured us there's more of his character to come.
"Oh we will [see Jack]," Ventimiglia said, though he didn't divulge which incarnation of his character we'll see on season three. "Absolutely. Definitely."
"This Is Us" will air its season two finale on NBC Tuesday, March 13 at 9 p.m.
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