ABC Not Moving Forward With ‘The Middle’ Spinoff About Sue Heck

ABC has officially dropped plans for The Middle spinoff series centered around Eden Sher‘s Sue Heck.

The series, titled Sue Sue in the City, starred Sher as Sue Heck and was created by The Middle creators and executive producers Eileen Heisler and DeAnn Heline. It was ordered to pilot back in August and had Chris Diamantopoulos cast alongside Sher as well as fellow Middle alum Brock Ciarlelli, Kmberly Crossman, Finesse Mitchell and Aaron Branch.

According to Deadline, the series might be offered to other networks now that ABC has let go of the pilot.

The spinoff series follows twentysomething Sue Heck (Sher) and her adventures as she moves from the small town of Orson, Indiana, where she grew up to the big city of Chicago, including the ups and down of her career and young adulthood.

“Cue the Sue happy dance,” the show’s logline reads. “More Sue Heck is on the way. The series follows the twentysomething adventures of eternal optimist Sue Heck as she leaves the small town of Orson to navigate the ups and downs of a career and young adulthood in the big city of Chicago.”

The new show was one of departing ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey higher priority projects for the upcoming television season.

This marks the second spinoff comedy series, centered on a young character from a popular series, to not make to the ABC lineup, following the Black-ish spinoff Grown-ish, which has become a hit show for Freeform.

The Middle premiered back in 2009 and ran for nine season, keeping its popularity in the ratings. The series focused on a middle class family in small town Indiana, with Sue as the awkward middle child of the Heck’s three children.

Sue quickly became a fan-favorite character as she evolved and became a confident voice for outcasts. The series finale revealed that Sue and neighbor Sean Donohue (Beau Winick) shade their feelings for one another, and a flash forward revealed the pair had an on-and-off relationship throughout their 20s before they eventually got married.

Sher opened up about filming the pilot during Comic-Con.

“We’re doing a pilot,” Sher told press this summer. “I hope it gets picked up … I’m allowed to talk about the pilot, but I don’t want to jinx it. I think it’s going to be great.”

ABC is not desperate for new comedy series in its mid-season both of its new comedies and Splitting Up Together were picked up for full seasons. The network also has a spinoff of The Goldbergs, Schooled, awaiting a premiere date in 2019.