'Grown-ish' bids final farewell after a ground-breaking six seasons

LOS ANGELES -- After six iconic seasons, Freeform's hit television show, "Grown-ish", will air its final episode tonight.

The Freeform network hosted an exclusive "Grown-ish" finale party at the Mother Wolf venue in Hollywood to give a final farewell to the beloved Cal U crew. It was an exciting yet bittersweet night as the cast and crew celebrated six seasons of family, laughter, growth, life lessons, and most of all, good times. The event immersed guests in the "Grown-ish" universe with show-themed decor, special appearances from the show's cast and guest stars, live DJ sets, exclusive photo opportunities, and other interactive experiences.

"I feel like to walk away with such an overwhelmingly positive experience is always such a blessing because you live with these people for practically all year for seventeen hours a day and so to walk out with just nothing but gratitude for those days is special," said Yara Shahidi.

Many have watched Zoey and Andre Johnson Jr., who are played by Yara Shahidi and Marcus Scribner, grow up right before their eyes, as they were first introduced as young teens on the original television series "Black-ish." They've since grown immensely, graduating college and now off to adulthood.

"It's been a whirlwind. I started when I was thirteen on 'Black-ish.' I've been with the same character for almost 10 years in total which is crazy, kind of unheard of for the television landscape that we have today. I've just been grateful every step of the way and I'm glad to have grown with Junior and have seen where the character has gone," said Marcus Scribner.

The beloved show has come a long way since airing its first episode back in 2018.

The comedy series has also been known for tackling serious topics revolving around college life, politics, social justice, mental health, humanitarian rights, drug and alcohol addiction and so much more.

"I think it's really important for people around our age, young people to know that the issues they're going through, everybody's going through, or a friend is going through or a family member, and yes life is fun college is fun, we're partying but also we're going through real things and I think it's important to both show the fun part and also the harder part," said Tara Raani, who plays Zaara Ali on the show.

Kenya Barris, "Grown-ish" creator and executive producer, spoke on the importance of creating a show that shined a light on the issues Gen-Z has been facing.

"Really, we just wanted to have something that spoke to what youth culture was going through. It was inspired a lot off of my daughter, off of Yara. We really just wanted to have something to say," Barris said.

The ground-breaking show has broken many barriers and stereotypes through its storytelling and will be missed by many of its supporters.

The series finale of "Grown-ish" airs tonight at 10/9c on Freeform, and all six seasons are streaming now on Hulu.

The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of Freeform, Hulu and this ABC station.