'Andi Mack' Is Ending Despite Being the Best Show on the Disney Channel
Updated July 26 2019, 4:31 p.m. ET
Disney Channel will air its last episode of the hit series Andi Mack on Friday, July 26th. The news broke out back in April 2019 that the series would be coming to an end and Disney executives had no concrete reason.
So, why is Andi Mack ending?
People have been speculating that the show was canceled due to the felony charges surrounding Andi’s grandfather (played by actor Stoney Westmoreland).
In 2018, Westmoreland was charged with six felony charges for trying to have sexual relations with a 13-year-old boy. Westmoreland was fired from the show after the news broke, and his removal didn't hurt ratings. Andi Mack still remained the top charting show on Disney Channel, which makes its cancellation hard for most fans.
"I just don’t understand how Bunk’d is still on when only one of the original characters remains but a show like Andi Mack that educates kids on important issues and showcases Disney Channel’s much needed diversity gets cancelled after 3 seasons," one fan tweeted. Another added, "I’m so damn confused as to why Andi Mack got cancelled... I am so lost rn idk what to do."
Same.
However, producers wanted to end Andi Mack on a good note.
"I didn’t want to end with a cliffhanger. I believe people will miss Andi and her friends and her family," Terri Minksy told Variety. "To me, the finale is a way for them to tell your audience, ‘We’ll miss you, too, but you don’t have to worry about us: We’ll be fine.” Hopefully this show will set the tone for future Disney Channel shows to come.
Andi Mack was monumental for more reasons than one.
Disney Channel’s Andi Mack is a show about a teenage girl (played by Peyton Elizabeth Lee) whose life changes when she finds out her “sister” Bex, who’s very free-spirited, is actually her mom. Those who Andi thought were her parents turned out to be her grandparents.
Along with spotlighting mothers who have children at an early age, Andi Mack has been the first show on Disney Channel to touch on other real-life issues. The hit series has also tackled topics such as learning disabilities as well as introducing the Disney Channel’s first openly gay character, Cyrus (played by Joshua Rush).
Having a show like this is very progressive for a network like Disney Channel because it touches on topics that teenagers of the same age go through daily. It’s one thing to live in a world where someone is dealing with coming out or trying to live with their learning disability but to be represented on a network like Disney Channel is ground breaking.
Andi Mack’s co-executive producer Terri Minsky highlighted the walls they've broken down throughout all of Disney Channel's history.
"We had the honor of breaking a lot of new ground for Disney Channel. We were its first serialized show, its first series centered around an Asian American family, and its first to feature an LGBTQ character who spoke the words ‘I’m gay,'" Terri explained. "But the best part of making Andi Mack was our audience, who let us know we mattered to them. The series finale is for them."
You can watch the season finale of Andi Mack on Friday, July 26 at 8 p.m. on Disney Channel.
