For seven stellar seasons, audiences anxiously tuned in to see how 40-something single mother Liza Miller would be able to juggle her thrilling double life, with the recent divorcée pretending to be a 26-year-old, in order to find success in an ageist publishing industry in the smash hitYounger. Featuring the talents of Sutton Foster, Debi Mazar, andHilary Duff, the fun and quirky series became an underrated success with fans and kept viewers hooked from beginning to end, concluding its impressive run in 2021.
Despite becoming such a knockout with viewers, many fans were shocked whenYoungercompleted its television tenure after seven seasons, with some wondering if the entertaining dramedy had been canceled. Small screen legend Darren Star is the genius behindYounger,having also been responsible for some of Hollywood’s most celebrated classics includingBeverly Hills, 90210andSex and the City, and ahead of the final season’s production back in 2020 he revealed the series had simply run its course and told the story it needed to.
Darren Star’s Refreshing & Fun Dramedy
Darren Star is one of the small screen’s most decorated talents, with the writer, producer, and director extraordinaire the creative genius behind beloved television classics likeBeverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place,andSex and the City,and in 2015 he continued his Hollywood reign with the quirky dramedyYounger.Broadway superstar Sutton Foster headlines the TV Land original series, which focuses onthe recently divorced 40-year-old mother Liza Miller, as she finds herself struggling to break back into the working world after discovering just how hard it is for women of a certain age to thrive professionally.
Set in bustling New York City, Liza has an enlightening moment after having a run in with the handsome and charming 26-year-old tattoo artist Josh (Nico Tortorella) at a bar, during which she realizes she can pass for a younger woman and decides to use this to her advantage.With the help of her loyal best friend Maggie (Debi Mazar), Liza comes up with a scheme to fight back against the ageist publishing industry and poses as a 20-something to land a job, quickly becoming friends with the fun and ambitious 26-year-old Kelsey Peters (Hilary Duff). Naturally, Liza quickly learns how hard it will be to maintain her complicated double life.
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Season 7 Was Always Intended to Be the Last
The addictive and wildly entertaining series ran for seven seasons and during its impressive run attracted widespread critical acclaim, with its premiere season garnering a dazzling97% Rotten Tomatoes score and garnering praise for Foster’s charismatic performance, Star’s unique storytelling, and the show’s witty writing and dialogue. Though never a massive viewership success,Youngernonetheless found its television niche and served up endless amusement and fun for audiences, ultimately going on to become TV Land’s longest running original series in the history of the network.
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According to Star,Youngerwasn’t actually canceled as he had always envisioned the dramedy concluding after seven seasons, believing that the characters and show had naturally run their course as those closest to Liza had all discovered the truth about her age, thus rendering the playful premise obsolete. In September 2020,Star told TV Linethat he was “unofficially planning [Season 7] as a final season” as production had been halted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting the famous creator to re-tool the episodes already written and give the popular series the send-off it deserved:
“The action ofYoungersort of picks up where the last season left off, which was before the pandemic. But I do think we’re looking forward to incorporating it into the action as the season progresses.”
It makes sense that Star would opt to endYoungerafter its seven-season run, asin 2020 he had created the Netflix romantic dramedyEmily in Paris,which quickly became a worldwide sensation and a delightful guilty pleasure for fans, with the series being watchedby 58 million householdsduring its debut month. Star also returned to hisSex and the Cityroots in 2021, helping launch the highly-buzzed aboutrevivalAnd Just Like That…that same year. There was truly no reason to keepYoungergoing, as the colorful characters had all completed their respective arcs, though a spin-off nearly came to fruition for Duff’s counter-part Kelsey.
Duff’s Canceled Kelsey Spin-Off
While Liza Miller’s wonderfully strange story came to an end inYounger,Hilary Duff’s vivacious book editor character Kelsey Peters had nearly starred in a spin-off series of her own. In May 2020, it was reported that Darren Star was working on a show that would revolve around Kelsey’s adventures in Hollywood, as she had been hired to run a business called Inkubator through a company that just-so-happened to be co-ownedby Reese Witherspoon.Unfortunately, the proposed follow-up never made it past the discussion stage as Duff was cast in another spin-off,Hulu’sHow I Met Your Father.
Though fans ofYoungerwould have loved to see a new series focused on Kelsey’s California experiences, Star believes that the show’s series finale properly wrapped up the character’s run, commenting on the scrapped spin-off in2021 and declaring"it was always going to end with Kelsey doing her own thing, alone, heading to Los Angeles.“Youngerhas unsurprisingly become a streaming hit after becoming available on Netflix, and curious viewers should definitely check out the entertaining series as well as Star’s many other popular creations, as he is constantly crafting vibrant and fresh originals.
