‘Black-ish’ Series Finale: EPs Say “There’s No Reason It Needs To End, It Can Go On For Years”
20.04.2022 - 04:47
/ deadline.com
SPOILER ALERT: This story contains details of Tuesday’s series finale of Black-ish on ABC.
After eight seasons, Kenya Barris’ ABC comedy Black-ish came to a bittersweet end with the series-finale episode “Homegoing,” with the Johnson family selling their place so they could return to living in a Black neighborhood. It also turned into an opportunity for the cast and crew to, quite literally, dance in the street for a job well done. Here, Barris and showrunner Courtney Lilly discuss the comedy’s finale, what they hoped to accomplish, and what’s next for the franchise.
DEADLINE: The episode ends with a New Orleans jazz funeral to celebrate the end of their life, so to speak, in that mostly white neighborhood. And it was followed with dancing in the streets! Too bad the dancing didn’t go on for longer. It was great to watch.
COURTNEY LILLY: I know! Obviously there have time constraints and this and that, but that was a lot of our crew in that shot. If I could go back, I just would’ve stayed there longer, you know? ‘Cause that’s what we felt where we wanted to be. We knew we wanted to celebrate what so many of us had done over the last eight years — not just the cast, not just the writers and executive producers, but the people who showed up 5:30 in the morning to make this show. Once we got the idea for the jazz funeral, we wanted our people to be a part of that. It was incredibly moving, especially since over the last two years were we weren’t able to spend a lot of time together. Everybody was so honored to be able to participate in this moment.
DEADLINE: Where was it shot, in Los Angeles?
LILLY: Stansbury Avenue in Sherman Oaks.
KENYA BARRIS: I was not there. I was actually shooting my movie.
DEADLINE: Is this the ending that