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‘Last Man Standing’: Tim Allen Says Finale ‘Knocked It Out of the Park’

Tim Allen believes fans will be satisfied with the two-part finale of Last Man Standing that airs next week. But don’t expect a sad or bittersweet ending. After nine seasons, Allen said the show will go out “naturally.”

“I believe we knocked it out of the park,” Allen said Thursday, reports TV Insider. “Rather than have one where it’s sad, it wasn’t about sad. It wasn’t turning the light out at the end of the scene. We didn’t want to do any of that. We wanted to go out kind of naturally.”

The Last Man Standing series finale will air May 20 at 9 p.m.

Allen said he’s extremely proud of what the show has been able to accomplish over its run. And he’s is leaving with a lot of great memories.

“We’ve got about a 10-year run, and it seems like two years to me,” Allen told TV Insider. “That’s a sign of a great experience. It just seemed like it just flashed by.”

That’s saying a lot considering how difficult it was to keep the show on the air. ABC canceled the show after the sixth season, but intense fan lobbying got Fox to pick it up where it lasted three more years.

Tim Allen Says He’s ‘OK’ with Leaving Show Behind

In the first episode called “Baxter Boot Camp,” Mike Baxter (Allen) teaches his daughter Kristin (Amanda Fuller) the importance of keeping a good work-life balance as she prepares to take over Outdoor Man. Hoping to help her from making some of the mistakes he made early on.

The finale —titled “Keep on Truckin’” — is art imitating life. Just as the cast and crew are leaving their beloved show, the characters in the Last Man Standing lose something dear to them as well. It’s the only episode of the series that Allen wrote.

In it, Mike Baxter finishes rebuilding the 1965 Ford F-150 after a decade of hard work. But thieves steal the truck out of his garage.

In a clear nod to real life, the Baxters and their friends gather to make peace with losing something so precious. Tim Allen said that his character is proud of his accomplishment but ready to move on to the next stage of his life. Allen feels the same way.

“And he’s OK with” letting go, Allen said of Mike Baxter. “And that was something I had to say to myself and to the audience that we had for that last show. I did have to say it to them and to myself. I’m OK with it. Really it was the process of getting it to the finish line. It was mission accomplished. We did it. We got here.”