The end of an era. The Goldbergs will not return after season 10, Deadline reported on Thursday, February 23.
The ABC comedy is set to take its final bow in May at the end of the current season, according to the outlet. The cancellation news came more than one year after original cast member Jeff Garlin exited the series in December 2021 following a human resources investigation into his on-set behavior.
News broke in late 2021 that Garlin, who played Murray Goldberg, allegedly engaged in a “pattern of verbal and physical conduct that made people uncomfortable” while working on the sitcom. The Babylon actor, meanwhile, refuted the claims against him ahead of his departure from the show, which he insisted was by choice.
“No, I was not fired from The Goldbergs. I have not been fired from The Goldbergs,” Garlin, 60, told Vanity Fair in an interview published in December of that year, confirming that Sony had been investigating his behavior for three years. “There was no … Nothing physical by any stretch of the imagination. And the verbal part was a joke that was completely missed — because I like this guy.”
He maintained his innocence, explaining, “If I said something silly and offensive, and I’m working at an insurance company, I think it’s a different situation. If I, as the star of the show, demanded a gun range and on set, and I was firing guns every day and I was a little bit loose — to me, that’s an unsafe work atmosphere.”
Garlin concluded: “If I threatened people, that’s an unsafe work atmosphere. None of that goes on ever with me. That’s not who I am. I am sorry to tell you that there really is no big story. Unless you want to do a story about political correctness.”
The comedian was later released from his contract ahead of season 10, which premiered in September 2022. The Hollywood Reporter spoke with a producer on the show in December 2021 who claimed that the decision was mutual between Garlin and Sony, ABC’s parent company.
Co-showrunner Alex Barnow revealed in August 2022 that Garlin’s character would be killed off and not appear on any season 10 episodes.
“[Murray] will have passed, and we are sort of starting from a place of multiple months removed from his death,” Barnow told Entertainment Weekly at the time. “The family has already grieved, unlike [with] Pops [George Segal] and the premiere of season 9 where [Pops died and] they’re dealing with it sort of very freshly. This is going to be a family that has not reconciled the fact that their father’s gone but has sort of moved on and has dealt with a lot of that.”
Fellow showrunner Chris Bishop teased that a lot would be changing going into the next season. “It honestly feels like a huge reboot for us,” he told the outlet. “So we have tons of momentum rolling into this new season.” (Garlin, meanwhile, announced in September 2022 that he had been struggling with bipolar disorder amid his career ups and downs.)
Ahead of all the drama, Wendi McLendon-Covey exclusively told Us Weekly what her dream ending was for the show, which takes place in the ‘80s and follows the Goldberg family.
“I would love Bev to be holding a grandbaby. I would also love to get to an era where she starts to wear leather pants because the real Beverly does dress that way in real life,” the 53-year-old actress, who plays Beverly Goldberg, said in January 2021. “She is alive and out there and dressing like a rock n’ roller in her 70s and she pulls it off.”
McLendon-Covey added: “Let me say this — I know we can’t stay in the ‘80s forever, which is fine. But we are always going to be very vague with the date because that’s the device of the show. That it’s being told by memory. Details are spotty and the time jumps around. But if the network wants the show to go on and we have to go into the ‘90s, that’s fine.”
The series also stars Troy Gentile, Hayley Orrantia and Sean Giambrone as the Goldberg children, Barry, Erica and Adam, respectively.
The Goldbergs airs on ABC Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m. ET.
