‘Last Man Standing’ Halts Production on Season Finale Amid Coronavirus Fears

Last Man Standing had just two days of production left, but those days will have to wait due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Tim Allen-starring sitcom was among the last shows to hit the pause button on production, as the finale was scheduled to be filmed in front of a live audience on Tuesday. Disney’s 20th Century Fox Television also put filming on Seth MacFarlane’s The Orville on hold.

Last Man Standing initially planned to film the finale without a live studio audience, reports Deadline. However, producers decided Sunday afternoon to suspend production. There is still a chance the sitcom and The Orville could return to production within the next three weeks.

Other sitcoms have made similar decisions. CBS’ The Neighborhood was planning to take its season finale without an audience on Tuesday, but decided against that on Friday. NBC’s Superstore was also set to film the finale this week, but that was put on hold. Both shows have completely shut down production and are not planning to return to film the finales.

Last Man Standing is in the middle of its second season on Fox and eighth overall. The show moved to the network following a season off-air due to ABC’s decision to cancel the show after Season 6. The series stars Allen as Mike Baxter, the conservative patriarch of the Baxter family. Nancy Travis plays his wife Vanessa, while Amanda Fuller, Molly McCook and Kaitlyn Dever play his daughters Kristin, Mandy and Eve. Christoph Sanders plays Mandy’s husband Kyle, and Jordan Masterson plays Kristin’s husband Ryan. Krista Marie Yu joined the show in Season 7 as Jen, a foreign exchange student the Baxters welcomed into their home after their daughters moved out.

“I think that Krista has brought an entire new element to the show,” McCook told PopCulture.com in an exclusive interview. “I think that she’s… first of all, so unbelievably funny. We find ourselves cracking up at every single thing that she does.”

“All of [the Baxter daughters] have moved out of the house, and Mike and Vanessa have this kind of empty nest syndrome,” McCook explained. “They’re missing what it feels like to have a kid right there in their home under their roof. And so the character of Jen has kind of brought that energy back and given them that purpose.”

Last Man Standing is just the latest production impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Almost every Hollywood production is on hold. The single biggest delay came from NBCUniversal, which suspended production on more than 30 shows all at once on Saturday.

Last Man Standing airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. The next new episode, airing on Thursday, is titled “Chili Chili Bang Bang” and finds Mike and Chuck (Jonathan Adams) competing in Outdoorman’s Annual Chili Cook-Off.

Photo credit: Fox