This Is Us season 2: Can Randall’s upcoming stories make for another Emmy nod?

It was a big night for the This Is Us star, Sterling K. Brown, as he accepted his Emmy for his role as Randall Pearson on Sunday night. Brown’s portrayal was honest, true, and downright fantastic. He truly brought this character to life with every part of him. So it’s no wonder that Brown was onstage accepting the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

With all this being said, how can the show tell a story for Randall that puts Sterling K. Brown back in Emmy contention next year?

The adoption – By focusing on this fans and critics are allowed to see that raw emotion and talent that everyone loved so much. It also allows us a deeper look into Randall’s mind. After all, he is trying to adopt in order to help a child like him and, as we have already seen in a Season 2 sneak peek, it’s going to bring up some questions regarding his own adoption.

His mother, Rebecca, tells him that someone in the marriage needs to be the one to push to make the big moves after Beth has some reservations about adopting. From this, we get the feeling that we are going to see a side of Randall that was hinted at brief during the Thanksgiving episode when he was the one to push everyone to do the traditions, but now that part of him is going to be full on display.

Randall Pearson is a great character and by focusing on the parts of him that are real and true it makes for a combination that the Television Academy can never ignore.

His anxiety – In Season 1 one of the most well-received moments was Randall’s anxiety attack and how accurately it was portrayed. This is an issue that many people suffer from and it doesn’t go away just like that and sometimes it never does, but people learn to cope with it. So going into Season 2 by continuing to show Randall’s anxiety and how he can live and cope with it, we once again are privileged to see the master at work highlighting an issue that many people dismiss. Brown’s performance during the anxiety scene was brilliant and was hope to see more of it.

His relationship with Kevin and Kate – We said this before and we will say it again, the chemistry between the Big Three is amazing. Now we know that Kevin and Randall haven’t had the best relationship, but when are sibling relationships ever perfect? It’s an accurate depiction for many people and that’s why we love it. The duo are slowly working things out, with a big step being when Kevin returned to help Randall through his anxiety attack. This is the magical part of the show because it shows that even though they aren’t on the best of terms, they still love each other. There’s nothing exaggerated about their relationship, it’s just realistic.

With Kate, Randall seems to be on good terms with her. Even though Kate puts her head on Kevin’s shoulder, she still loves Randall and cares for him. So going into season 2, we hope to see more of his relationship with Kate. It’s a great bond that just needs to be told some more.

By focusing on these 3 concepts we definitely believe that Sterling K. Brown will be back in the Outstanding Lead Actor contention in 2018.

This Is Us returns this fall to NBC on September 26. For more news related to the series, be sure to visit this link. (Photo: NBC.)

This story was written by Samantha D’Amico. If you want to follow her on Twitter, you can do so at @SAM_iamXO.