Jeff Garlin’s character on “The Goldbergs” will be killed off following the actor’s departure from the series, the show’s co-showrunners, Chris Bishop and Alex Barnow, told Entertainment Weekly in an interview published Tuesday.
The 60-year-old actor and comedian left the ABC family sitcom in December following allegations of misconduct on set.
Garlin’s character, Murray Goldberg, will have been dead for “multiple months” when the show’s 10th season premieres Sept. 21, and his family members will have already grieved him, the co-showrunners explained.
“This is going to be a family that has not reconciled the fact that their father’s gone but has sort of moved on and has dealt with a lot of that,” said Barnow.
Garlin’s rep did not immediately return a request for comment.
Barnow said that he was unsure if Garlin knew about his character dying on the series.
“I’ve had a conversation with Jeff, and he’s aware that he’s not being replaced. The truth is, I don’t know if he knows what his fate is, but I’m assuming he knows, would be the answer to that question,” he said.
But it won’t be all doom and gloom for the Goldbergs in Season 10 — not with a new grandbaby around.
Newlyweds Erica (Hayley Orrantia) and Geoff (Sam Lerner) will welcome their first child, making Murray’s widow, the famously overbearing family matriarch Beverly Goldberg (Wendi McLendon-Covey), a grandmother.
“So we’re starting with optimism about a baby coming and looking forward to the future,” said Barnow. “It’s an opportunity for this interesting emotional basis for the way people are behaving.”
Viewers can also expect to see more of recurring character Pop-Pop (Judd Hirsch) as well as a new guest star: former “Baywatch” and “Knight Rider” star David Hasselhoff, who will play himself
“We got the Hoff, so we’re very pumped about that,” said Bishop.
The direction of the stories has inspired creativity behind the scenes, said Bishop.
“It honestly feels like a huge reboot for us. So we have tons of momentum rolling into this new season,” he said.
Bishop and Barnow’s comments come more than five months after McLendon-Covey defended “The Goldbergs” to a journalist who criticized how the show handled Garlin’s exit.
On March 17, entertainment journalist Noel Murray tweeted a clip of an episode that featured Garlin edited into a scene. It also used prerecorded dialogue.
“They should either cancel The Goldbergs or kill off Jeff Garlin’s character because the workarounds they’ve been using this season ain’t working,” he wrote alongside the clip.
McLendon-Covey tweeted back to Murray, writing, “Thanks for the great suggestion Noel! This season threw us for a loop because a.) it’s hard to incorporate someone who doesn’t want to be there and wants to leave mid-scene, and b.) we weren’t about to re-write the 2nd half of the season.”
She added, “We’re doing our best.”
