‘Last Man Standing’ Showrunner Returns to Show Revival

The upcoming Last Man Standing revival on Fox will reunite Tim Allen with executive producers and leaders from the show’s original run on ABC.

Kevin Abbott, who served as executive producer on the original series for most of its six seasons on ABC and showrunner for season 1 and the second half of season 6, will return as executive producer/showrunner for season 7.

According to Deadline, Abbott will be joined by three other veteran Last Man Standing writer/executive producers: Matt Berry, Kevin Hench and Ed Yeager.

Abbott, Berry, Hench and Yeager will executive produce alongside returning Last Man Standing exec producers Allen, Becky Clements, Marty Adelstein, Shawn Levy and Allen’s managers Richard Baker and Rick Messina.

Created by Jack Burditt, Last Man Standing stars Allen as Mike Baxter, a married father of three girls who tries to maintain his manliness in a world increasingly dominated by women.

Allen hinted at the show’s return and celebrated the news on Twitter at the time of the pickup announcement.

The actor recently teased the new season will tackle the issue of guns in an upcoming episode.

“I’m excited because we have so much left in our tank. There were a lot of stories we hadn’t gotten to,” Allen told Closer, adding that one of those issues is the topic of guns, as his character Mike Baxter “owns a sporting-goods store that has firearms, so we’re going to have to deal with that somehow.”

The cancellation of Last Man Standing at ABC was quite controversial, as it was seemingly a successful show, with Allen voicing his opinion with his fans of the series.

“There is nothing more dangerous, especially in this climate, than a funny, likable conservative character,” Allen previously said about his character on the show. “He’s mitigated by a family of women who had a difference of opinions, but the guy was a likable guy.”

ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey explained the network’s side of the matter at the time.

“Last Man Standing was a challenging one for me because it was a steady performer in the ratings, but once we made the decision not to continue with comedies on Fridays, that was where we landed.”

Most of the show’s core cast is back, including Allen, Nancy Travis, Jonathan Adams, Amanda Fuller, Christoph Sanders and Jordan Masterson.

Co-star Hector Elizondo also has a deal in place to come back. His casting is currently in second position to his NBC comedy pilot Guess Who Died, which was not picked up at the network but is still being shopped.

The series will return this fall to its longtime Friday 8 p.m. time slot on Fox.