Why Last Man Standing season 7 recast Mandy Baxter

Why was it so important for Last Man Standing season 7 to recast the Mandy Baxter character? Well, there are clearly a number of different reasons for that.

For starters, it just makes sense logistically that this is something that the Fox series chose to do. When it was clear that Molly Ephraim would not be returning as the character, there were two different things that the show could’ve done here. They could have chose to write out the Mandy character altogether, but that would have been a tough pill for people to swallow. For starters, it would have been strange for that character to completely up and leave her entire family. Beyond just that, the show would’ve had to reinvent itself even more than it’s having to already with Eve only coming back occasionally.

The other option here was to opt for a recasting, and that is clearly what the producers decided to do here. Molly McCook is set to play Mandy and per a report from Variety, the producers felt like it was important in order to keep that sort of family dynamic intact.

As for recasting Mandy with a performer who looks very different in some ways than Ephraim, executive producer Kevin Abbott noted humorously that “Mandy grew seven inches and became a blonde” between seasons. We knew already that the show wasn’t forcing McCook to try to change her appearance to look more like the original version of the character.

Recastings are risky, but if there’s one thing that we know about Last Man Standing viewers at this point, it’s this: They are loyal. There may be those disappointed in the change at first, but they may come around once they see the new Mandy in action and what the story chooses to do with her.

Last Man Standing season 7 is going to air on Fox come Friday, September 28. We’ll ave more news as the series starts to approach that date.

Related – Check out some more news when it comes to Last Man Standing, including some recent promos

Are you willing to give the new Mandy on Last Man Standing season 7? Be sure to share right now in the attached comments!

Meanwhile, remember here that you can like CarterMatt on Facebook to get some other news when it comes to the series. (Photo: Fox.)