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An Important Member Of Beth's Family Gets Introduced On 'This Is Us'

by Chrissy Bobic

For the most part, This Is Us, has followed the Pearson family through multiple generations, but on the Season 2 finale, part of Beth’s side of the family was finally introduced in the form of her younger cousin, Zoe. So who is Beth’s cousin on This Is Us? Surprisingly, she might be the one to get through the Deja, as Deja is still struggling with the fact that her mom left her at Randall and Beth's house.

Their connection was likely because Zoe's own childhood wasn't all that easy either, despite Beth coming from a stable environment. She even told Deja as much when she revealed that her own mother left her at Beth’s home when they were kids. (Side bar: can we get some flashbacks of Beth’s family next season? Because there are definitely some intriguing stories there.) But the similarity of their situations seemed to help Deja find a little comfort, at least initially.

Zoe is a new character, sure, but there's already so much about her that makes her memorable, especially since she's the only relative of Beth’s that viewers have met so far. In fact, she’s so close to Beth that Tess and Annie refer to her as their aunt instead of calling her their first cousin once removed. Granted, that doesn't exactly roll off the tongue very easy. But still.

But instead of living close to Beth and Randall, Zoe lives and works as a photographer in Chicago. This means that she lives pretty far away from Beth, but maybe her introduction in the Season 2 finale means fans will get to see more of her moving forward, especially since she was able to connect with Deja, which isn't the easiest thing in the world to do. In Beth’s words, "She’s magic." Speaking of people who can get through to Deja, though, a big part of Beth’s cousin’s future on This Is Us was revealed in the final moments of the finale on Tuesday night when a flash forward showed her and Kevin on a plane together, clearly in a romantic relationship.

While Randall’s flash forward showed him some 20-odd years in the future with an adult Tess, Kevin’s seemed like it wasn’t in the very distant future and he and Zoe did have a moment at Kate and Toby’s wedding. Since they seem to have some kind of future together, maybe this means that Zoe is here to stay, or at the very least maybe we’ll get to see more of her next season.

Meeting Beth’s cousin was no big shocker for some This Is Us fans, since co-showrunner Isaac Aptaker told The Hollywood Reporter that it was a long time coming. "We're going to get to meet Toby's parents for the first time, which we're very excited about, and it's something we've wanted to do for quite a while on the show, and this felt like the perfect reason," he said ahead of the This Is Us Season 2 finale. "We're also going to get to meet a member of Beth's extended family, which is something people always ask about. They're always like, 'I want to meet her mom, I want to meet one of her sisters, I want to meet somebody,' so we are finally going to meet another person from Beth's world at the wedding."

Aptaker wasn't super clear on when and if viewers will see these new characters again, but that seems to be the plan for Season 3, so fans will likely get to learn more about Zoe and her future with Kevin starting next fall. "We cast some pretty in-demand actors, so it’s always a bit of a matter of scheduling," he added, of casting Toby’s parents and Beth's cousin. "We love all three of them, so I certainly hope [we’ll see them again]."

Hopefully, this means that we won't have to wait long to see Kevin and Zoe’s apparent romance flesh out and give way to that big flash forward scene of the two of them traveling together. Until Season 3, though, which is likely more than six months way, we can all speculate and hope for more answers about Beth’s family.

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