ABC’s ‘Fresh Off the Boat’ to end next year after ‘game-changing’ six seasons
“Fresh Off the Boat” has reached its final port: The ABC comedy starring Randall Park and Constance Wu will end early next year after completing its sixth and final season.
The sitcom will sign off with an hourlong series finale on Feb. 21, ABC said Friday.
As of Friday morning, Wu didn’t have a negative public reaction to the announcement like she did when news broke in the spring that the show had been renewed for a sixth season. The “Crazy Rich Asians” star was reportedly upset that she’d have to forgo another project to remain on the series. This time, however, she and her fellow cast members were mum on the cancellation on social media.
Two days into Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, the Los Angeles City Council has declared May 2 to be “Fresh Off the Boat Day,” in honor of the hit ABC sitcom.
Reps for Wu and ABC did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.
Inspired by chef Eddie Huang’s memoir of the same name and adapted for television by Nahnatchka Khan, “Fresh Off the Boat” has become the longest-running broadcast TV sitcom about an Asian American family. It debuted in 2015 following the success of ABC’s other family sitcoms “Modern Family” and “black-ish” and was lauded for its diversity and unique perspective on the Asian American experience (though Huang later derided it for becoming “artificial”).
The show focuses on the Huang’s family move from Washington, D.C.’s Chinatown to the suburbs of Orlando, Fla., and is filled with the ensuing micro-aggressions that are specific to the Asian Americans. The 1990s-set show is the first prime-time network sitcom in more than 20 years — since “All American Girl” with Margaret Cho — to feature an Asian American cast.
“Fresh Off the Boat” and “Crazy Rich Asians” star Constance Wu anchors the true crime strip club drama “Hustlers.”
The series greatly furthered the careers of its leads, Park and Wu. Park, who had largely been a character actor before the series and was embroiled in the North Korea debacle over the 2014 comedy “The Interview,” went on to star in “Trainwreck,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp” and “Always Be My Maybe.” He’ll next appear in the Disney+ series “WandaVision.” Wu has been critically acclaimed for her role in the series and has since taken on starring roles in the hit films “Crazy Rich Asians” and “Hustlers.”
“We couldn’t be prouder of this game-changing show and the impact it has had on our cultural landscape,” Karey Burke, president of ABC Entertainment, said in the Friday announcement. “The success of ‘Fresh Off the Boat’ has helped pave the way for inclusion throughout the industry.”
“I’m so proud of the show and what we’ve accomplished over the past six seasons,” added series creator Khan. “Thank you to everyone at ABC and 20th Century Fox Television for going on this ride with us. It was truly a special experience and hopefully will forever be a reminder of all the stories out there that deserve to be told. Like B.I.G. said, ‘And if you don’t know, now you know.’”
The show is currently airing its sixth season Fridays on ABC.
It’s a sunny Friday morning in downtown Culver City and Ali Wong is adamantly trying to convince Randall Park, her costar and collaborator in the romantic comedy “Always Be My Maybe,” that his life is about to change.
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