Viewers got to see their favorite Cal-U students graduate and move on to the next stage in their lives, and most of the original cast will be doing the same. According to Deadline, Freeform’s grown-ish will experience major changes to the cast and story come season five.
Founding cast members Emily Arlook (Just Add Water, Big Time Adolescence), Francia Raisa (How I Met Your Father, Secret Life), Luka Sabaat (The Dead Don’t Lie), and Chloe and Halle Bailey (The Little Mermaid) will all not return for the next season.
Yara Shahidi (black-ish), Trevor Jackson (Superfly, Burning Sands), and Diggy Simmons (Parental Guidance) will return with black-ish‘s Marcus Scribner joining the cast as Zoey’s younger brother Junior following the final season of black-ish.
According to Deadline, season five of grown-ish will follow Zoey, Aaron, and Doug in their post-grad lives while welcoming a new class of Cal-U students, including Junior. At the end of season four, Zoey was seen in New York pursuing her fashion career, with the finale ending with Aaron following her from South Africa, continuing their will-they-won’t they dance.
This will be similar to A Different World, where a new group of students were ushered in while a couple of the graduates remained for their post-grad storylines.
The departing cast will be moving on to other projects. Raisa currently stars in How I Met Your Father on Hulu which was renewed for second season; Halle Bailey will play Ariel in the Little Mermaid live-action remake; Chloe will be focusing on her music career sans Halle.
grown-ish will return this summer.