This week, Mixed-ish—the second Black-ish spinoff—ended its two-season run on ABC with its finale episode “Forever Young.” But the future of the Black-ish TV universe, led by original series creator Kenya Barris, remains stacked with possibilities.
In a Deadline chat with Nellie Andreeva published on the night of the Mixed-ish finale, ABC Entertainment and Hulu Originals president Craig Erwich spoke on the status of a pair of new potential spinoffs, including Brown-ish. Per the report, Harris and Eva Longoria had been trading ideas for the series, which would “revolve around a modern Latinx family.” According to Erwich, the project is in development at the moment with no “firm plans” just yet.
Erwich also spoke on the status of Old-ish, which would focus on Laurence Fishburne and Jenifer Lewis’ Black-ish characters, saying there are currently no plans to make it as a pilot.
The massively successful Grown-ish, meanwhile, will soon debut its fourth season on Freeform. The Yara Shahidi-starring spinoff has garnered critical acclaim, as well as strong viewership. In 2018, the series premiere bagged 1.56 million total viewers, becoming the network’s biggest comedy series launch in more than five years.
As for the possible Brown-ish spinoff, many of the reactions to it being in development have been far from positive. Critics of the idea noted that the Latinx community is not a monolith, thus the title is problematic, while others have more generally argued that no more Black-ish spinoffs should be made. Some have also questioned the involvement of Longoria, who last November issued an apology and a clarification after comments she made that were criticized at the time as appearing to be dismissive of Black women.
