Will Phylicia Rashad Return Next Season To This Is Us?

One of the many highlights presented in This Is Us during Season 3 was the guest appearance of Phylicia Rashad as Carol, Beth’s (Susan Kelechi Watson) mother. The actress made quite an impression, prompting folks to wonder if she’ll be back next year!

Rashad appeared in a Beth-centric episode titled “Our Little Island Girl” that shined an overdue spotlight on Beth in which viewers learned about how her love of dance was derailed and her meeting Randall (Sterling K. Brown).

In the season finale, Randall and Beth were on the outs, but the couple managed to find their way back to each other (yay!) by compromising. They agreed to move closer to Randall’s new job, and Beth was shown looking at dance studios so she could open one of her own.

But even though the couple is back on the right track, it doesn’t mean Beth won’t need to see her mom in Season 4. “My hope is that [Phylicia will] want to come back and be part of our ensemble,” Dan Fogelman, creator/executive producer, tells TV Insider.

Kelechi Watson is passionate about whether or not Rashad returns to the series. “I hope so!” the actress enthused in the same report.

A good sign that Rashad will be back next year is that the actress, best known as Clair Huxtable on The Cosby Show and to daytime fans as Courtney Wright on One Life to Live in 1983 and Felicia on Santa Barbara in 1985, was invited to sit on the panel with the cast as the recent tribute to This Is Us at PaleyFest LA 2019 in Hollywood.

Rashad was asked about keeping the door open in terms of a return to the show next year when she and Kelechi Watson were interviewed by the Los Angeles Times.

“Oh, you never close a good door,” Rashad replied. “You always keep a good door open.” If that doesn’t sound like she is open to a return, we don’t know what does!

While the season is over for This Is Us, episodes can be seen on NBC.com right now.