The Goldbergs has been keeping the ‘80s alive on ABC for 10 years through the eyes of Adam Goldberg and his eccentric family. However, all good things must come to an end, and — just like the decade — the long-running sitcom has done just that. A Back to the Future-themed series finale aired May 3, and Wendi McLendon-Covey, who has portrayed Goldberg matriarch Beverly for the duration of the show’s 10 seasons, posted a bittersweet tribute to the series that she did not know was ending.
In “Bev to the Future,” it appeared that Wendi McLendon-Covey’s character was starting to move on from Murray — after Jeff Garlin left The Goldbergs amid allegations of misconduct — as Beverly reconnected with former flame George (Rob Corddry). The actress seems ready to move on as well, as she closed the chapter on the past decade with a sweet Instagram montage of photos and behind-the-scenes moments:
If you thought the Season 10 finale didn’t feel like a goodbye fitting of a series that had been on the air for 10 years, that’s because it wasn’t intended to be, and the showrunners recently spoke about the stories they had planned for a potential Season 11. They also said if they’d known ABC was canceling The Goldbergs, they would have made some changes to the final episode.
With the showrunners unaware of the impending cancellation, the cast also had no way of knowing that would be the last time they would play the Pennsylvania family members. That might have been a good thing, though, according to Wendi McLendon-Covey, who told TVLine:
They told us like four days after we wrapped our season. So, like, two days before our wrap party. In retrospect, I guess [it] was the best way for it to happen because if we knew ahead of time, nothing would’ve gotten done. We would’ve all been sobbing.
Ten years is a significant amount of time for anybody, so there was probably no pain-free way to get the news that that chapter was closing. While the cast probably felt a little blindsided, finding out there would be no 11th season days after they’d shot their final scenes, the actress said at least they didn’t have to worry about being overly emotional on set.
Even without confirmation about their future, though, the Reno 911! actress did admit there was some extra sentimentality happening amongst her colleagues over the last week of filming. She continued:
You got to know our time is not expanding. We’re going to be ending at some point. So I think we went into that last week, thinking this could be it, so let’s savor every moment. We were coming in on our days off and just walking through the set and taking pictures of every single thing, or stealing things, or telling people we loved them. Like I said, I think it’s best that we didn’t find out until we were all safely at home, ensconced in our beds, because I was a wreck.
Factors that played a part in ABC’s decision to cancel the series — which was the second-longest currently running scripted show on the network behind Grey’s Anatomy — was a combination of declining ratings, rising licensing costs and ABC not owning the series outright. Some would argue, however, that the writing had been on the wall for the series since George Segal’s death in 2021.
Hopefully we won’t be without Wendi McLendon-Covey on our screens for too long, as she’s already been cast in the pilot for a new sitcom called St. Denis Medical, a mockumentary set in an Oregon hospital. While we wait to see what happens with that, you can rewatch all 10 seasons of The Goldbergs with a Hulu subscription and check out what series are premiering soon with our 2023 TV schedule.