A little over a year ago, and without warning, ABC canceled the hugely popular Tim Allen comedy after six seasons. This weekend, the sitcom returns to television with Last Man Standing season 7 on FOX. Here’s what to know.
Last Man Standing season 7 plot
As much of the promotional material for the new season has indicated, Allen and company won’t be shying away from ABC’s decision to cancel the series. In fact, as indicated by a clip from the premiere episode, “Welcome Baxter,” both the writers and the cast seem to be having a lot of fun at their former network’s expense.
According to Deadline’s original report back in 2017, the decision to cancel Last Man Standing had more to do with business considerations than politics, as some critics believed. ABC was distributing the series, of course, but it was actually being produced by 20th Century FOX TV. They had been “wrangling over the series’ license fee,” but when negotiations fell flat, ABC decided to cancel the show outright.
Almost a year to the day the show was canceled, FOX officially announced that they would be resurrecting the series for Last Man Standing season 7, to air during the 2018-2019 television season.
How the show will handle the longer-than-normal passage of time between seasons six and seven remains to be seen, though early reviews have already indicated that the execution thus far is actually quite good. And they’re not wrong, because the aforementioned studio and television industry jokes aimed at ABC notwithstanding, Last Man Standing remains a fairly enjoyable, if otherwise bland, show.
Last Man Standing season 7 cast
Aside from Allen, regular cast members Nancy Travis, Amanda Fuller, Hector Elizondo, Christoph Sanders, Jordan Masterson and Jonathan Adams were all signed on for the return. However, Molly Ephraim and Flynn Morrison, who played Molly and Boyd, decided not to return. Their roles were eventually recast to Molly McCook and Jet Jurgensmeyer.
“Welcome Baxter,” will not only welcome the Baxter family back to television but it will also see Mike (Allen) and Vanessa (Travis) eagerly awaiting the return of their daughter Eve (Kaitlyn Dever) from the Air Force Academy. Despite all the celebration regarding the show’s return, however, Eve’s reunion with her family will be bittersweet, as Dever’s casting on the Netflix series Unbelievable forced the writers to reduce her role as Eve to a recurring one.
Last Man Standing season 7 release date
Last Man Standing season 7 premieres Friday, Sept. 28, at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.
