It’s official: Black-ish will return for another season.
ABC announced its decision to renew the hit comedy series on Friday—weeks after fans became increasingly concerned about the sitcom’s future. Though there’s no question Black-ish has become one of ABC’s most popular shows, it was recently reported that creator Kenya Barris was seeking to terminate his contract with the network and move the series to Netflix.
As pointed out by The Hollywood Reporter, Barris’ rumored plot to relocate Black-ish may have been a result of his disagreements with ABC over a politically charged episode:
[In March] for instance, it yanked a politically themed episode of Black-ish following creative differences between the network and Barris. At the time, ABC called the decision to scrap it a mutual one between the network and Barris, though sources say otherwise. The episode was poised to feature star Anthony Anderson's Dre relaying his concerns about the current stage of the country to his son.
“Given our creative differences, neither ABC nor I were happy with the direction of the episode and mutually agreed not to air it,” Barris said about the canned episode. “Black-ish is a show that has spoken to all different types of people and brought them closer as a community and I’m so proud of the series.”
Since its premiere in September 2014, Black-ish has garnered praise from both audiences and critics. The show has received a number of prestigious honors, including multiple NAACP Image Awards, a Peabody, as well as a Golden Globe.
We're screaming!! SEASON 5, here we come! 🎉🎉 pic.twitter.com/hCflLpGHch
