The ninth and final season of the American sitcom '' Last Man Standing'' premiered on January 3, 2021 on

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

, and contained twenty-one episodes. It stars

Tim Allen Timothy Alan Dick (born June 13, 1953), known professionally as Tim Allen, is an American actor and comedian. He is known for playing Tim "The Toolman" Taylor on the ABC sitcom ''Home Improvement'' (1991–1999) for which he won a Golden Gl ...

as Mike Baxter, alongside

Nancy Travis Nancy Ann Travis (born September 21, 1961) is an American actress. She began her career on Off-Broadway theater, before her first leading screen role in the ABC television miniseries ''Harem'' opposite Omar Sharif. Her breakthrough came in 1987, ...

Amanda Fuller Amanda Fuller (born August 27, 1984) is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for being the second actress to portray Kristin Baxter on the ABC/Fox sitcom '' Last Man Standing''. Career Early career In ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'', Ful ...

, Molly McCook, Christoph Sanders,

Jordan Masterson Jordan Masterson (born April 9, 1986) is an American actor. He played Zeb, a five-year-old boy, in Danielle Steel's 1993 TV adaptation ''Star''. He may be best known for his role as Mark in the 2005 film ''The 40-Year-Old Virgin'' and his recurri ...

, Jonathan Adams,

Krista Marie Yu Krista Marie Yu (born October 25, 1988) is an American actress best known for her roles on television. She played the main role of Molly Park on the ABC family sitcom ''Dr. Ken''. In August 2018, it was announced that Yu would play the recurring ...

, and

Héctor Elizondo Héctor Elizondo (born December 22, 1936) is an American character actor. He is known for playing Phillip Watters in the television series '' Chicago Hope'' (1994–2000) and Ed Alzate in the television series '' Last Man Standing'' (2011–2021 ...

. After the season premiere on Sunday, January 3, the show moved to its regular timeslot at 9:30 PM on Thursdays. The series concluded on May 20, 2021 with a one-hour series finale.

Cast

Main cast

as Mike Baxter and Tim Taylor *

as Vanessa Baxter *

as Kristin Beth Baxter * Molly McCook as Amanda Elaine "Mandy" Baxter-Anderson * Christoph Sanders as Kyle Anderson *

as Ryan Vogelson * Jonathan Adams as Chuck Larabee *

as Jen *

as Edward "Ed" Alzate

Recurring

Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno ( ; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, and writer. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Tonight Show'' from 1992 until 200 ...

as Joe Leonard

Guest

Kaitlyn Dever Kaitlyn Rochelle Dever (; born December 21, 1996) is an American actress, singer, musician, and songwriter. She is best known for her roles in the television series ''Justified (TV series), Justified'' (2011–2015), ''Last Man Standing (America ...

as Eve Baxter *

François Chau François Chau (born October 26, 1959) is a Cambodian and American actor. He is known for his roles as Dr. Pierre Chang in ABC's '' Lost'', Quick Kick on '' G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'', Dr. Chang in the film '' 21 & Over'', Shredder in '' ...

as Henry *

Bill Engvall William Ray Engvall Jr. (born July 27, 1957) is an American retired stand-up comedian, actor, and television host. Engvall has released a number of stand-up comedy albums through Warner Records and the defunct BNA Records. His commercially su ...

as Reverend Paul *

Jeff Dunham Jeffrey Douglas Dunham (born April 18, 1962) is an American ventriloquist, stand-up comedian and actor who has also appeared on numerous television shows, including ''Late Show with David Letterman'', ''Comedy Central Presents'', ''The Tonig ...

as himself

Episodes

Production

Development

On May 19, 2020,

renewed '' Last Man Standing'' for a ninth season. On October 14, 2020, it was announced that the season would be the final one of the series. The season takes place in 2023 in order to not occur during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, although it will still address how the pandemic impacted the characters. The time jump also allows the babies that the Kristin and Mandy characters were pregnant with at the close of season 8 to be presented as three-year old toddlers. The premiere was originally planned to be the unfinished finale from the eighth season, however due to the fact that most of it would have to be rewritten, and that planned guest-star

was unavailable, the producers instead decided to write a new episode.

Casting

On December 4, 2020, it was announced that series star

would also reprise his role from ''

Home Improvement The concept of home improvement, home renovation or remodeling is the process of renovating, making improvements or making additions to one's home. Home improvement can consist of projects that upgrade an existing home interior (such as electr ...

'' as Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor for the second episode of the season, "Dual Time". Even though the producers had some difficulty getting permission to use the character of Tim Taylor, they ultimately were able to obtain it. On December 25, 2020, it was announced that Sophia McKinlay would portray Sarah.

is set to reprise her role as Jen starting with the fourth episode of the season, "Jen Again". Kaitlyn Dever reprised her role as Eve Baxter in the season premiere, "Time Flies".

Release

On November 10, 2020, it was announced that the season would have a special premiere on January 3, 2021, before moving to its regular timeslot on January 7, 2021. On December 22, 2020, it was announced that the season would premiere an hour later than originally planned on January 3, 2021, to make room for the series premiere of ''

The Great North {{Infobox television , image = The Great North Title Card.png , genre = Animated sitcom , creator = Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin & Wendy Molyneux & Minty Lewis , voices = {{Plainlist, * Ni ...

''.

Ratings

References

External links

* {{Last Man Standing 2021 American television seasons Last Man Standing (American TV series)