‘This Is Us’ Season 2: 5 Theories On How The Fire Starts

“This Is Us” Season 2 has been building up to a fire all season. After showing Rebecca crying with a plastic bag of Jack’s personal items in front of the charred Pearson home, fans know that Jack’s death is somehow connected to a fire. However, the details around that fire aren’t very clear.

In Tuesday’s episode of the NBC drama, “This Is Us” gave viewers another hint: Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) forgot to get batteries at the mall. The final moments of the episode showed that the smoke detector had no batteries. That is a huge hint. While many believe that Jack died while doing something heroic, he may have simply been caught in an accident.

So what will cause the fire that likely kills Jack? We have a few theories:

Electrical Issue — The show has already hinted at this, noting that the family home has a circuit breaker that fails a lot. Executive producer Isaac Aptaker told Entertainment Weekly that this is a possibility.

“It’s entirely possible,” he said. “But then again, it’s sort of saying like how throughout our show to explore the way that life is totally unexpected, and we don’t necessarily see where the curveballs are coming from, yes, certainly it could be that electrical fire. Also, there’s lots of different ways that a house can catch on fire.”

Jack Smokes — Smoking cigarettes is a pretty common habit among those who are giving up worse addictions, like alcohol. Jack might decide to light up but accidentally falls asleep with a lit cigarette.

Kate Leaves Something On — Fans know that Kate (Chrissy Metz) believes she killed her father. Now obviously, she didn’t do anything deadly on purpose, but she may have accidentally caused the fire. Perhaps she forgot to turn off the stove or a hair iron, or maybe she left a candle burning.

Fireworks — Rebecca was wearing a Steelers jersey on the night of the fire, and the promo video for next week’s episode shows Rebecca in that Steelers jersey. Aptaker teased that next week will be the final Super Bowl for the Pearsons before the kids leave the house. Maybe someone’s celebratory fireworks after the big game cause the fire?

Arson — The Pearsons don’t really have many adversaries. However, audiences know Walt is Jack’s awful boss, and Jack is planning to quit to start a construction business. Does Walt want revenge? This is definitely the craziest theory, but “This Is Us” loves a good twist.

Fans will have to tune in to find out how the fire was started. “This Is Us” Season 2 airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. EST on NBC.