EXCLUSIVE: Mandy Moore Reveals the Sneaky 'Tangled' Reference You Totally Missed on 'This Is Us'

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NBC


Warning: Spoiler alert! Do not proceed if you have not watched Tuesday’s episode of This Is Us.


Mandy Moore
is feeling your pain.

The This Is Us star caught up with ET one day after Tuesday’s heartbreaking episode, where Kate (Chrissy Metz) confessed that she was the reason her father, Jack (Milo Ventimiglia), is dead. The episode closed with Jack, clearly drunk, stepping behind the wheel and attempting to make the two-hour drive to fix his marriage to Rebecca (Moore), heeding to a young Kate’s advice.

RELATED: 'This Is Us': Kate Drops a Huge Bombshell About Jack's Death

“People are really upset,” Moore told ET on Wednesday while promoting Disney Channel’s Tangled: The Series. “People are bummed. But there’s one more episode, and I would caution people to let the story unfold the way that it’s going to.”

Fans went haywire on Twitter following the final scene, tweeting their theories about what’s in store for Jack and overall venting about their emotions.

But one fan may be onto something.

RELATED: Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore Don't Like Seeing Jack and Rebecca Struggle

While Jack’s fate hangs in the balance, one thing fans may not have picked up on from last night’s episode is a reference Moore completely geeked out over.

In two key moments -- one in the present day and one in the past -- Rebecca and her son, Randall, embrace and share a sweet exchange. “I love you,” Randall says, to which Rebecca responds, “I love you more.” “I love you most,” Randall says back, winning the mother-son lovefest. The exchanges seemed pivotal and familiar -- and there’s good reason.

Those three lines of dialogue were lifted straight from Tangled! (In the 2010 film, the exchange comes during the song, “Mother Knows Best,” when the evil Mother Gothel assures Rapunzel that she has her best intentions in mind. Spoiler: She doesn’t.)

RELATED: Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore React to Shocking 'This Is Us' Over Dinner;

When ET asked Moore, who was with Tangled: The Series co-star Zachary Levi, about the reference on This Is Us, she was more than excited to talk about the sneaky mention.

“It did!” she exclaimed, before a surprised Levi responded with awe: “Did it really?”

“I have to imagine that [creator] Dan [Fogelman] had a hand in putting that on the small screen,” Moore said. “Everybody on Twitter was like, ‘Was that a Tangled reference?’”

RELATED: Mandy Moore Shows Off 'the First Milo' in Her Life

“I thought about it while I was shooting but I didn’t really bring it up,” she added. “I just figured it was meant to be there.”

And she’s right! Fogelman also wrote the screenplay for Tangled.

“It’s all full circle in this world,” Moore said with a smile.


Tangled: Before Ever After
premieres Friday at 8 p.m. ET/PT and Tangled: The Series launches Friday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on Disney Channel. This Is Us airs its finale next Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.

For more on This Is Us, watch the video below.

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