ABC Airing ‘The Middle’ Series Finale Instead of ‘Black-ish’ Tuesday Night

The Middle‘s one-hour season finale will be taking over Black-ish‘s timeslot on ABC Tuesday night.

After nine seasons, the Patrica Heaton-led series will be airing its final, one-hour long episode starting Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. ET following the season finale of Roseanne.

The official logline for the finale released by ABC reads: After nine hilarious and heartfelt seasons, a Heck leaves the nest as the family takes a road trip to Denver, where Axl will start his new job.”

Ahead of the finale, series creators DeAnn Heline and Eileen Heislet told Variety the episode, titled “A Heck of a Ride” will be an ode to fans.

“One thing that’s very important to us is to think about our fans and to think about us and think about an ending that’s appropriate to the show we’ve always been,” Heisler said. “Personally, I don’t think the point of a finale is to shock [the audience]. I think that you really want to honor the show and give people an [episode] that is closer to a typical one, while being exciting, than something that veers off in another direction.”

The series was renewed for a ninth season in January 2017, and announced it would be its last in August of that year. The season was extended by two more episodes to allow for a proper goodbye.

The series, which starred Heaton, Neil Flynn, Charlie McDermott, Eden Sher and Atticus Shaffer as the Heck family, will bow out in the hour-long finale.

In the era of reboots, Heaton said she would love to check in on the Hecks during holidays or vacations, but Heline and Heisler were not as quick to think ahead of the finale.

“It was important for us to give closure in some respects,” Heline said of the finale. “We wanted it to be satisfying in respect to the story, but we also wanted it to feel like the Hecks are going to live their lives. Because it is a family show, I think it is always something you could revisit.”

Black-ish wrapped up its fourth season on May 15 with Dre (Anthony Anderson) and Bow (Tracee Ellis Ross) deciding not to get a divorce after a four-episode arc.

As the couple appears to excel on their own throughout the episode, Bow’s father’s tragic death leads them back together. The pair go to therapy after the funeral and realize that they chose to be together during the difficult time and they put the past behind them. The season ends with the Johnson family all watching TV together, ready for the next chapter in their lives.

Black-ish will return for its fifth season in fall 2018 on ABC.