It was a Last Man Standing reunion on the set of Shifting Gears, as Kaitlyn Dever surprised her on-screen father Tim Allen in front of the ABC show’s live audience.
The sweet reunion was shared on the Shifting Gears Instagram account Friday, capturing the moment that Allen, 72, walked around a corner on the set’s kitchen to hit his next mark, only to catch Dever, 28, digging around in the refrigerator.
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Allen was delighted to see his former co-star, doubling over with laughter as the audience cheered for the touching surprise. Allen and Dever then embraced as the sitcom star’s Shifting Gears daughter, Kat Dennings, celebrated nearby.
“Some behind the scenes love for you: the best surprise,” the ABC show captioned the video on social media. “Thanks for stopping by @kaitlyndever!”
Allen previously shared his excitement about the Last Man Standing reunion on X (formerly Twitter) back in October. “Kaitlyn Dever stopped by my taping tonite [sic] at Shifting Gears,” he wrote at the time. “Such a lucky man. Truly blessed to have worked [with] and loved so many of my cast.”
Dever played one of Allen’s three daughters on Last Man Standing, appearing as a series regular for the first six seasons of the sitcom before returning as a recurring character for the next three seasons before it came to a conclusion in 2021.
Dever has since gone on to earn two Emmy nominations and star in HBO’s popular series The Last of Us as well as the critically-acclaimed Hulu miniseries Dopesick.
Shifting Gears, which premiered its first season in January, stars Allen as the owner of an auto restoration shop, whose estranged daughter, played by Dennings, 39, moves back in with him while struggling as a single mom.
Shifting Gears has previously hosted a number of Last Man Standing reunions, bringing on both Nancy Travis and Jay Leno. An October episode of the sitcom also featured a Home Improvement reunion for Allen, with Patricia Richardson, Richard Karn, and Debbe Dunning all making guest appearances.
Shifting Gears airs new episodes on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
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