The groundbreaking ABC series starring Constance Wu will close out in February 2020.
Fresh Off the Boat has been canceled after six seasons on ABC, bringing an end to TV’s longest-running broadcast series about an Asian-American family. The show will wrap up with an hour-long series finale, set to air on Friday, Feb. 21, 2020.
“I’m so proud of the show and what we’ve accomplished over the past six seasons,” series creator Nahnatchka Khan said in a statement. “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.’”
Adapted from Eddie Huang’s memoir, the series chronicles the lives of the Huang family as they relocate from Chinatown in Washington, D.C., to the suburbs of Orlando, Florida. In its final season, the Huang family is at a crossroads as the various family members start exploring new paths in their lives. Fresh Off the Boat stars Randall Park as Louis Huang, Constance Wu as Jessica Huang, Hudson Yang as Eddie Huang, Forrest Wheeler as Emery Huang, Ian Chen as Evan Huang, Lucille Soong as Grandma Huang, Chelsey Crisp as Honey and Ray Wise as Marvin.
“We couldn’t be prouder of this game-changing show and the impact it has had on our cultural landscape. The success of Fresh Off the Boat has helped pave the way for inclusion throughout the industry. Nahnatchka Khan and her brilliant creative team have created an unforgettable series with an Asian-American family front and center, something that hadn’t been done in two decades. The cast, led by Randall Park and Constance Wu, is one of the finest and funniest on television. We’ll miss the Huang family and are eternally grateful for the incredibly heartfelt stories they have told these past six seasons,” Karey Burke, president, ABC Entertainment, said in a statement.
The cancellation comes after some controversy surrounding the series when Wu posted a series of NSFW tweets openly criticizing the sixth season renewal.
Following the uproar over her comments, Wu posted a lengthy statement explaining her Twitter outburst, saying she was "conflicted" over the show's pickup and “temporarily upset... not [because] I hate the show but [because] its renewal meant I had to give up another project that I was really passionate about.”
In May, Burke addressed the controversy for the first time and whether there had been discussions to recast her role of matriarch Jessica Huang. “No, there has been no thoughts on recasting Constance. We love what she does on the show and we love the show," she said at the time.
"I did actually know that Constance had another opportunity that, had Fresh Off the Boat not gone forward, she would have pursued. But we never really considered not bringing back Fresh Off the Boat," Burke continued. "The show is just too strong and we love it."
Following her breakout success on Fresh Off the Boat, Wu went onto star in the wildly popular 2018 film adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians. She was later cast as the lead alongside Jennifer Lopez in Hustlers, which opened to critical acclaim in September and has earned Oscar buzz for Lopez.
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