‘Grace and Frankie’ Season 7: Everything to Know About the Netflix Comedy’s Final Season

Credit: Suzanne Tenner/NETFLIX

'Grace and Frankie' Season 7: Everything to Know About the Netflix Comedy's Final Season

One last ride! Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin are saying goodbye to Grace and Frankie after seven seasons and nearly 100 episodes. The Netflix comedy is the longest-running original series on the streaming platform to date, debuting in 2015. Four years later, creators and showrunners Marta Kauffman and Howard J. Morris confirmed that season 7 would be the last. "It's thrilling and somehow fitting, that our show about the challenges, as well as the beauty and dignity of aging, will be the oldest show on Netflix," they noted in a September 2019 statement. Fonda and Tomlin, who portray the titular Grace Hanson and Frankie Bergstein, respectively, added in a statement of their own: "We are both delighted and heartbroken that Grace and Frankie will be back for its seventh, though final, season. We're so grateful that our show has been able to deal with issues that have really connected to our grand generation. And their kids, and amazingly, their kids as well! We'll miss these two old gals, Grace and Frankie, as much as many of their fans will, but we'll still be around. We've outlasted so many things — just hope we don't outlast the planet." [jwplayer ozNuqhl5-zhNYySv2] The dynamic duo play adversaries-turned-roommates whose worlds are turned upside down when their husbands, Robert Hanson (Martin Sheen) and Sol Bergstein (Sam Waterston), reveal that they are in love with one another and leaving their wives after decades of marriage. As they cope with their breakups in their own ways — and eventually, together — Grace and Frankie develop an unshakeable bond. Even the actresses, who previously worked together on 1980's 9 to 5, are the best of friends. "I miss her when I'm not with her," Fonda gushed of her costar during a 2019 Jimmy Kimmel Live! appearance as Tomlin teased, "No, we're not sick of each other." Grace and Frankie also stars June Diane Raphael, Brooklyn Decker, Baron Vaughn and Ethan Embry, all of whom will return for the final season. While speaking exclusively with Us Weekly ahead of the premiere, Decker got emotional about saying goodbye. "When I auditioned for it ... you know, Netflix [had] House of Cards and there [was] Orange Is the New Black, and we were their first half-hour comedy," she recalled. "So it was still this, like, new place that was making interesting television, but we were unsure what it would turn into. And now Netflix is Netflix. It's been amazing to see Netflix grow. ... We're gonna be connected forever." Scroll down to learn more about the final season of Grace and Frankie: [podcast_block]

Credit: Suzanne Tenner/NETFLIX

The Release Date

After the first four episodes hit Netflix in August 2021, the final 12 will be available to stream on April 29.

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The Cast

All of viewers' favorites will be back, including Fonda and Tomlin as the titular characters, and Sheen and Waterston as their former spouses. With Nick (Peter Gallagher) being released from prison during the August 2021 episodes, fans can expect to see the O.C. alum to return as well. 

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The Trailer

Fans got a look at the end of Grace and Frankie's "crazy ride" when the full-length teaser dropped on April 14. "For seven years, two friends made us laugh, made us cry and made us question what it means to act your age," a tagline read as footage from past seasons flashed on screen. 

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The Special Guests

Dolly Parton hinted in July 2021 that she was gearing up to reunite with her former 9 to 5 costars Fonda and Tomlin as their series came to an end. "This is their last year, their last season, so we're figuring out how they want to use me," she said on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. "But I am absolutely going to be on it this year."

Decker later confirmed to Us that the country superstar had a very special cameo. "[She] is on our final episode, which gives me goosebumps," the actress gushed in ahead of the premiere. "It's so beautiful. It's so funny. It does everything Grace and Frankie does, which is [that] it lets you escape for a moment and it feels like a warm, cozy blanket."

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The Ending

Grace and Frankie will have nearly 100 episodes under its belt by the finale, making it the longest-running Netflix series on the platform. Kaufman previously teased that the last round of episodes will "be dealing with Robert, Sol, Grace, and Frankie in a way in that we haven't seen before." Decker, for her part, exclusively told Us that it was "shockingly emotional" to say goodbye to her TV family.

"It just felt like we really went through something together," she recalled. "I know everyone feels that way, but it was both triumphant and devastating to [end] it and to have that last day on set."