Question: Anything on the Parenthood finale? —Joyce
Ausiello: Matt Lauria will be back (briefly) as Ryan in the final episode, airing Jan. 29. Interpret as you like!
KelliAnn: Parenthood's final season is killing me...in every way! Dying to know what happens with Amber and Ryan!
We've got an exclusive photo from Thursday's episode, which finds Amber breaking the big baby news to Ryan. And it looks like things will get emotional, but we're taking the handholding as a really good sign because we're huge fans of the adorable couple. Plus, we're hearing Matt Lauria will be returning again later in the season. So fingers crossed for a Ryber happy ending!
Reenie: I really loved seeing Haddie on Parenthood in the premiere. Will we be seeing more of her in the final season?
If it's up to her on-screen mom Monica Potter, Haddie will be making a lot of trips home from college. "I'm hoping more. I just texted Sarah [Ramos] and said, ‘I really, really want you to come back to the show.' She was like, ‘Have you heard anything?' But she'll be back. I miss her. She's just grown into this stunningly beautiful woman."
Question: Anxiously awaiting the return of Parenthood. Got anything new for us? —Andrea
Ausiello: Series creator Jason Katims tells us he’d like to bring back as many P’hood alums as possible for the show’s final 13-episode run, but squeezing them in will prove challenging. “Because we are coming to an ending, the stories are leaning toward the bigger issues in the lives of our characters,” he explains. “There are only 13 episodes, so there’s not a lot of room to say, ‘Oh, let’s bring this person back.’ It really has to fit into the bigger plan.” So far, both Matt Lauria and Sarah Ramos — both of whom are set to return for at least one installment — fit that bill. And so may Jason Ritter’s Mark. “If that happened, it would be later in the season,” he says of a possible Ritter reprisal. “I would love to find a way to have him come back.”
Now that NBC has shown Parenthood promos confirming that Amber is pregnant, do we know if Matt Lauria is returning as part of this storyline? – Ann
As previously scooped, Ryan will resurface in Episode 3– undoubtedly pleasing his portrayer. “I would absolutely love to return,” Lauria had told me while out promoting his DirecTV drama Kingdom (premiering Oct. 8). After all, he noted, the Amber/Ryan storyline “ended in an open way.” (I’ll say!) But maybe there’s a third party to worry about? Lauria’s Kingdom costar/fellow P’hood alum Jonathan Tucker playfully interjected with his theory that “Mayor Bob Little, now that a few years have passed, will be able to take back Amber” — and without a fight! Silly lad.
Question: Can you give us a teaser for the sixth and final season of Parenthood? —Ben
Ausiello: Remember that pregnancy test Amber grabbed in the Season 5 finale? Well, showrunner Jason Katims remains tight-lipped about the results, but he can confirm that Matt Lauria’s Ryan will return in Episode 3. Do with that information what you will!
Question: Parenthood continues to impress me this season. Can you give us a teaser for the Season 5 finale? —Ben
Ausiello: As TVLine was first to report, Matt Lauria is back as Ryan in this season’s final two episodes and, per exec producer Jason Katims, when he sees Amber again “it’s over very, very dramatic circumstances and incorporates some of our other characters in a rich story. It’s a very complicated situation for Amber because, clearly, this is somebody that she has such incredibly strong feelings for and that doesn’t just go away. But on the other hand, there are lots of complications for them. We’ll see her grappling with the closeness that she feels with Ryan and the feeling that it’s important that they make a break from each other.”
Question: Very much looking forward to Jason Ritter’s Parenthood return this Thursday. Anything else you can tease? —Nick
Ausiello: Per Katims, his one-episode comeback “gets launched when Amber happens to run into him in the street, and it leads to Sarah seeing him again after a year has passed in both of their lives. It’s a moving story — and it’s just moving for me to literally see [Ritter and Lauren Graham] together on screen again. What I liked about the story is that the scenes between them play out in this very realistic way. They have such incredible chemistry together. … It also sets up for Sarah where she’s going the rest of the season.”
Question: Any Parenthood scoop on Ryan and Amber? —Kelly
Ausiello: They’ll be scouting wedding locations early in the season, so it seems like they’re pretty serious about this marriage thing.
Lauria’s specific episode count is not known, but word is the Friday Night Lights alum is currently on board for roughly half of Season 5′s 22 episodes.
Last month at the ATX Festival, Lauria expressed optimism that he’d be back as Ryan, telling TVLine’s Meg Masters, “We don’t know what the details are going to be, but [exec producer] Jason [Katims] recently asked me, ‘Are you up for it?’ and I told him, ‘I’m up for it!’ And since then, there have been some conversations.”
For his part, Katims told fans at PaleyFest earlier this year, “I absolutely loved the dynamic between [Amber and Ryan] and I would love to continue that storyline.”
Question: Do you have anything on Season 5 of Parenthood? —Austin
Ausiello: A third party is going to create some tension in Julia and Joel’s marriage, and — shocker! — it’s not one of their irrepressible demon spawn! (I josh, I josh. I love those fire-breathing monsters… like a cold sore.) When the action picks up (after a somewhat sizeable time jump), Joel is in the midst of working on a two-year project with a fireball of an architect named Meredith (new recurring character alert!). Everything’s copasetic until Mer joins Joel and Julia for dinner and inadvertently makes former legal eagle Julia feel crappy about being a stay-at-home mom. What’s more, Julia starts to view her hubby’s new work wife as a threat. (I think we all know where this is going… ) In other Parenthood news, Sarah is going to pull an Amanda Woodward and become the manager of an apartment building, and Matt Lauria’s back as Ryan — at least in the Sept. 26 premiere — when Amber visits him at an Army base.
Question: I was devastated to see Amber and Ryan break up on Parenthood! Is Matt Lauria done on the show, or is there still hope? —Meghan
Ausiello: We have not seen the last of Ryan this season. Not by a long-shot.
"Parenthood": If you're like us, you've totally fallen in love with Matt Lauria's character, recently returned veteran Ryan. He's headed for a really sweet romance with Amber, but that doesn't mean things get easier for him. In an upcoming episode, Ryan learns that one of his friends has committed suicide. At the funeral, Ryan will get into a physical fight with another former comrade in arms who believes suicide is a cowardly act.
Question: I’m loving Ray Romano’s character Hank on Parenthood. It feels like they finally found a great match for Sarah. Any news on what will happen in the wake of their kiss? —Caia
Ausiello: In the short term, their smooch may be good news for Mark of all people. “I think it made her resolve a little stronger to try to keep her life on the track that she planned and hoped for, and finally looked like she was about to achieve,” muses Lauren Graham. And in the long-term? “We still don’t know what’s going to happen — nor does [series creator Jason Katims],” she maintains. “[He] kind of adjusts as things go along and picks up on the threads that are interesting to him, more than they maybe do on most shows…. So the line I’m trying to play is confusion, and it’s justifiably confusing what’s happening.”
Question: I love this season of Parenthood! It seemed like in the last episode Matt Lauria’s character Ryan had a special connection with Amber. Are we going to see more of that?!—Christine
Ausiello: Oh, yes. That special connection is about to morph into a full-blown romance. Lauria, meanwhile, tells us he’s on board for at least 10 episodes — an arc it sounds like he’d be happy to see extended ever further. “They gave me this amazing gift of playing this part that’s taken me to new depths as an artist and has made me a much more compassionate human being,” the Friday Night Lights vet raves. “I’m on board.”
"Parenthood": Remember how excited we were when we found out that Matt Lauria would play an Afghanistan vet who bonds with Zeek over their shared experience in the army? We're even more excited to learn that he's going to share a particularly close connection with Amber, too. Not so thrilled about that connection? Sarah. She worries that her daughter is once again in over her head.
