‘Last Man Standing’ Season 7: Everything We Know About Upcoming Episodes

Last Man Standing started its seventh season on the right foot, with a premiere fans loved and millions watched. Now that the first episode is out of the way, Mike Baxter (Tim Allen) and his family still have a long way to go.

The new season began more than a year after ABC cancelled the series in May 2017. After one TV season off the air, it looked like Tim Allen and his team had not lost a step. Most of the main cast was back, although Molly McCook replaced Molly Ephraim as middle daughter Mandy. Aside from that recasting and a few meta-jokes about a cancelled show, it looked like everything was back to normal.

The upcoming episodes of Last Man Standing feature a major death, arguments among friends and the family welcoming a new resident.

Scroll on for a look at what is coming up in Last Man Standing. New episodes air on Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.

Photo credit: Fox

Mike’s Father Bud’s Death Will be Handled in ‘Man vs. Myth’

In episode two, “Man vs. Myth,” Robert Forster will make one final appearance as Bud, Mike’s father. This will be Forster’s first appearance since season four in 2015. Bud’s pot dispensary episode will be handed down to Ryan (Jordan Masterson), Kristin’s (Amdanda Fuller) husband.

“It fairly closely follows what we generally do which is to tell a story about the relationships on our show with heart and a lot of funny,” executive producer Kevin Abbott told Entertainment Weekly of the episode. “So I think it’s a good example of what we typically do. The first show was actually a bit more atypical for us. Because our central character is a political beast [the election] felt like something that needed to be commented on.”

Mike and Ed Argue Over Outdoor Man in ‘Giving Mike the Business’

Episode three, “Giving Mike The Business,” will feature an argument between friends. Mike and Ed Alzate (Hector Elizondo) will disagree about the future of Outdoor Man, the Denver sporting goods store Mike owns, according to the episode description.

This will also be the start of a pregnancy storyline, as Vanessa (Nancy Travis) begins wondering if Mandy (Molly McCook) and Kyle (Christoph Sanders) are trying to start their own family.

The Baxters Will Welcome a Foreign Exchange Student into Their Home

In episode four, “One Flew Into The Empty Nest,” the Baxters take in a foreign exchange student played by Krista Marie Yu. Her character, Jen, comes from Hong Kong and develops a bond with Vanessa. Yu will possibly move into the room previously occupied by Mike’s youngest daughter, Eve (Kaitlyn Dever).

Coincidentally, Yu starred on Dr. Ken, which was also canceled by ABC at the end of the 2016-2017 season.

Mandy and Kyle Will Try to Have a Baby

Abbott told reporters in August that there will be a pregnancy storyline. Mandy and Kyle want to have a baby, a year into their marriage.

“Mandy and Kyle have been married for a year,” Abbott said at the Television Critics Association press tour. “Now they’re starting to think about having kids, and… you’re always told that the first time you have unprotected sex, you get pregnant. But what if that’s not the case? What if… they’re not having the easiest time getting pregnant?”

Gun Control Is a Subject in a Future Episode

Abbott told EW there will be an episode tackling the hot-button gun control issue.

“We’re still dealing with that a little bit. It’s a tough subject. Mike Baxter owns an outdoor store and sells guns there. We certainly have a viewership that embraces that and we want to be responsible at same time. It’s an ongoing discussion,” he said.

A Halloween Episode Is in the Works

There will be a new Halloween episode, following the precedent set during the show’s ABC run.

“This year we did something a little different. Last few Halloween show we had people dressing up as other people, but we’re going with a prank-theme Halloween this year,” Abbott told EW.

President Donald Trump Will Not Be Mentioned by Name

The series will continue to avoid using President Donald Trump’s name in an effort to appeal to everyone, Abbott explained. In the season premiere, they joked about Trump and his predecessor, President Barack Obama, but they never used either name.

“We want to appeal to everybody and that’s a polarizing thing,” Abbott explained to EW. “We want to talk about things but we don’t want to be a trigger that immediately thrills or turns off people. The news cycle changes so rapidly I don’t think we’re going to deal with anything immediately topical because by the time we air it will no longer be pertinent. We’ll deal with the larger issues. We want to take a more universal tone and unite rather than divide in these times. We rather show people on either side of the political spectrum arguing with each other but remaining family.”

Eve Is Only Confirmed for 2 Episodes

Eve, the youngest Baxter daughter, is only confirmed for at least two episodes this season, and we have already seen one of them. Kaitlyn Dever only signed on to return in a recurring role, which makes sense since Eve is training for the Air Force.

“She’s in the first episode, [and] she will be in the third episode,” Abbott told TVLine. “Kaitlyn Dever’s marvelous and of course she took other work while we were off… She’s currently doing a Netflix show, but they’re being really, really accommodating.”

Dever is starring in Netflix’s Unbelievable with Merritt Weaver and Toni Collette.