Eve Baxter will reportedly be taking a backseat in Last Man Standing Season 8, as actress Kaitlyn Dever is taking on other work. On Sunday, TV Line reported that Dever will be making “less appearances” in the sitcom’s upcoming season, thanks in large part to her other big opportunities. The producers of the show are very understanding of Dever’s situation.
Dever plays Eve, the youngest daughter of the Baxter family. However, these days she is probably better known for her leading role in the movie Booksmart, or the Netflix miniseries Unbelievable. It is exactly this kind of work that is pulling Dever away from Last Man Standing.
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“She’s a star, and we’ve always known that,” the show’s executive producer Kevin Abbott told TV Line. “She’s a phenomenal talent, and nobody deserves all of these accolades more than she does. She’s just so gifted and such a wonderful, genuine person. With that being said, yes, she is just crazy busy.”
Last Man Standing has already filmed 14 out of the 22 episodes planned for its upcoming season, and Dever is reportedly only in the season premiere. The change makes some sense, since her character is supposed to be in the Air Force Academy, but fans may still be disappointed.
“She hasn’t been back unfortunately, but everyone talks to her,” Abbott said. “We like to get her on for a few episodes each season because she’s a part of our family, and she works really hard to do that.”
According to Abbott, the producers are actually right in the middle of trying to book some time with Dever now in the hopes of getting her into a few episodes in a row before she returns to work elsewhere.
“We’re in a mode of trying to get her in this next cycle of three [episodes], to get her even for a couple of days if we can,” he said. “But we may have to wait until February to shoot her in another episode just because she’s got all of the press that she has to do [throughout awards season].”
Dever has been in the cast of Last Man Standing since the beginning, although she was not made a series regular until last year. When the show jumped from ABC to Fox, Dever was added to the main cast, but even there she only made it into seven out of the 22 episodes. Meanwhile, she was getting some incredible work elsewhere.
Dever is nominated for both a Golden Globe and a Critic’s Choice Award this year, and is a frontrunner in both races. The actress seems poised to reach new heights of stardom in 2020, all while juggling her work on the ABC sitcom as well.
Last Man Standing Season 8 premieres on Thursday, Jan. 23 at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Dever’s hit Netflix original series Unbelievable is streaming now.
