Tim Allen Reveals Where ‘Last Man Standing’ Will Pick up When Show Resumes

Tim Allen is overjoyed about the return of Last Man Standing, which he says will pick up eight months after the final episode before it was canceled.

Last Man Standing was canceled by ABC in May 2017. It was the network’s second-highest rated sitcom of the season, yet executives insisted it was a purely financial decision to drop it. The show had run for six seasons, and many fans were invested.

Now that the show is returning on Fox, fans can’t wait to see where it will pick up. At the 2018 Fox upfront presentations on Monday, Allen told Entertainment Tonight that the reboot will pick up just eight months after the season six finale in the show’s continuity.

“There’s some big surprises and good stuff coming,” he teased. While it felt like an eternity to desperate fans, Last Man Standing will only have missed one season of TV scheduling, so it doesn’t have to do too much rebuilding or reintroducing. Allen said that it was resuscitated entirely by the willpower of fans.

“All of you … man, I’m telling you … we would not be standing here [without the fans],” Allen said. “It’s gonna be a better show because of all you people that did this and I just hope we … I want to deliver. We will deliver for you.”

During the presentation, he discussed his comedy tour, which was his main gig during his year off from TV.

“It’s been great, a little bit sad, because I miss my TV family, but I’ve been spending time with my family and I did a 44-city comedy tour, which I haven’t been able to do, because Last Man was on for the six years,” Allen said.

“Fans were like, they wouldn’t forget about it. They go, ‘When is it coming back? Are you getting it back?’” Allen continued. “I said, ‘Look, I don’t know. I don’t really know how this works where you write or call Fox. I don’t know who you call.’ But they did. They actually called and they got a hold of emailing groups of people and it showed just enough interest.”

It was a strange year for cancellations and network shuffling. While Last Man Standing was dropped by ABC and picked up by Fox, Fox dropped the beloved comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which was in turn picked up by NBC.