'Fresh off the Boat' Fans Cheer and Joke for Constance Wu After Series Cancellation

Fresh Off The Boat fans all made the exact same joke after ABC canceled the longest-running series [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

Fresh Off The Boat fans all made the exact same joke after ABC canceled the longest-running series in U.S. TV history to feature an Asian-American family. Many joked about how Constance Wu, who infamously complained on Twitter after the show was renewed for Season 6 in May, would be celebrating Friday's news. The series will reportedly end with the 15th episode of Season 6, which will air early next year.

A source close to the production broke the cancellation news to Vulture on Friday, just before ABC released a statement confirming the news. The 14th and 15th episodes will air as a one-hour series finale on Feb. 21.

"I'm so proud of the show and what we've accomplished over the past six seasons," 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.'"

Fresh Off the Boat debuted in 2015 and was loosely based on Eddie Huang's memoir about his Taiwanese family moving to Orlando to open a restaurant in the 1990s and raise their three sons. Wu and Randall Park played the parents, while Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler and Ian Chen starred as their children. Huang was the narrator for Season 1, but left before Season 2 began.

Back in May, when ABC picked up the show for a sixth season, Wu suddenly tweeted "F– hell," which some fans thought was a celebratory tweet. It was not though, as Wu later wrote, "So upset right now I'm literally crying. Ugh. F–."

Wu later said she was not complaining about the show. Instead, she said the renewal meant she missed a chance to make another project she wanted to star in and apologized for her coarse language.

"Obviously I don't dislike doing a show that is fun and easy and pleasant," she wrote in part. "But in general, I've always sought artistic challenge over comfort and ease. I was disappointed in not being able to do that other project, because that other project would have challenged me as an artist. That other project would have been really hard and not easy or pleasant at at … but my words and ill-timing were insensitive to those who are struggling, especially insensitive considering the fact that I used to be in that struggle too. I do regret that it wasn't nice and I'm sorry for that."

Although the Hustlers star has long since moved on from the fiasco, fans did not forget, with many suggesting she would be celebrating the news. Wu has not spoken out about Fresh Off The Boat's cancellation though.

ABC has been developing a Fresh Off The Boat spin-off with an Indian family, but it is not clear if that project will be going ahead. The episode intended to introduce the characters has yet to be filmed.

Photo credit: ABC/Mitch Haaseth

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