‘The Middle’ Spinoff Starring Eden Sher Not Moving Forward At ABC

Unfortunately, Sue Heck’s losing streak continues on. Eden Sher — who played the unlucky middle child on the beloved sitcom The Middle — filmed a pilot episode for a potential spinoff series, but on Wednesday, November 21, ABC revealed that it will not be moving forward with the project, according to Variety.

Ever since The Middle ended its nine-season run in May, there had been talk of a spinoff show. Sher’s Sue character seemed the most likely choice to base a new series on as she was almost done with college and had her whole life ahead of her. Also, Sue’s quirkiness and optimism made her a fan favorite, so there was already a built-in audience.

In August, ABC officially announced that a pilot for a Middle spinoff was being commissioned. The original series’ creators, Eileen Heisler and DeAnn Heline, were going to executive produce the show and also pen the first episode’s script. The single-camera comedy — which was given the title Sue Sue in the City— would follow the adorkable young woman as she leaves her family’s home in Orson, Indiana, to take a job in the hotel industry in Chicago, Illinois.

The Inquisitr previously reported on the pilot’s early October taping and some of the actors who played Sher’s co-stars, including Brock Ciarlelli as Sue’s BFF Brad Bottig, a character he originated on The Middle, and SMILF‘s Kimberley Crossman as a chef named Remi who works at the same hotel as Sue.

It was later reported that Saturday Night Live alum Finesse Mitchell was going to portray a bartender in the pilot and Silicon Valley star Chris Diamantopoulos would play Sue’s boss and the owner of the hotel, noted TVLine.

While the plot and the cast made Sue Sue in the City sound like it could be a great television show, it seems like it was just not meant to be — or is there still hope?

“I hear the project might be shopped by producing studio Warner Bros. TV,” wrote Deadline writer Nellie Andreeva while covering ABC’s pass on the project.

Neither Sher nor any of the other stars who filmed the pilot have commented on social media about ABC’s sad decision.

Meanwhile, Variety said that the major networks are now beginning to make decisions about the 2019 to 2020 television season, so TV fanatics can expect both good and bad news about their favorite shows and actors in the next few weeks.