This Is Us renewed for two seasons

This is big news for fans of This Is Us: NBC has renewed the hit series. And there’s even a twist: It’s for two more seasons.

In the announcement, which made on Wednesday at Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, California, NBC Entertainment president Jennifer Salke also revealed that seasons 2 and 3 will contain 18 episodes each, guaranteeing at least 36 more installments.

The network hasn’t been shy in showing early support for the freshman show, ordering a full season of 18 episodes back in September after only the first episode had aired.

The flashback-happy family dramedy — whose stars include Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, and Sterling K. Brown — premiered to impressive numbers and critical praise. This Is Us stands as the top-rated new series in the key 18-to-49-year-old demo, and the fall finale on Dec. 6 drew a 4.9 in the demo and 16.4 million viewers including a week of DVR playback. It is also NBC’s most-watched scripted show in the Tuesday-at-9 p.m. time slot in seven-plus years.

“I know where the show goes,” series creator Dan Fogelman said about the show’s master plan during the TCA panel. “I have a number of seasons in my brain, and we’ll see as get there. In success, people are always going to want more, and in failure, people are going to want maybe less.”

The season 1 finale is slated to air in early March.

To read what Moore had to say about last night’s all-flashback prequel episode, click here.