'Black-ish' Cast Reflects on Series and Says Goodbye as Production on Final Season Wraps

The show's farewell season premieres on Jan. 4.

The cast of Black-ish is saying goodbye. 

On Wednesday, Tracee Ellis Ross took to Instagram to share photos from the show's wrap party and bid a farewell to the series. Ross, who has played family matriarch Rainbow Johnson since the show first premiered in September 2014, wrote that it's "hard to say goodbye" but that she's ending the series with a heart "full of joy and pride."

"It was an honor to go to work every day, to create our hilarious and important show. We changed the landscape of modern primetime television," the actress captioned her post. "It is more than a notion to keep rising above the limiting ideas people have for black women. To keep feeling the hits and to keep being free and shining anyway."

Ross called Black-ish a place that she could "shine" and "be free," writing that she wanted the series to make its mark as a promise of "what is to come."

"Let this show be a promise of what is to come, let the space we leave in our departure be an invitation for an eternity of black women leads who reflect the truth of who we are in the world and more shows that shift the narrative so that we can be seen in our fullness, and reflected as the important, loving, powerful humans that we are," she added.

Ross' gallery of photos and videos featured several cast members of the show including her TV husband, Anthony Anderson, and show creator and executive producer Kenya Barris. 

Anderson posted his goodbye message to the show last month, writing that the fans were just as much of a family as the cast.

"It has been an amazing run and I am so proud & honored of the work that we’ve done with this beautiful piece of work. ALLLLL the laughs, tears, provocative and teaching moments, EVERYTHING in between... Black-ish will live forever!!!" he wrote. "And we are all so happy and thankful for every fan and viewer... YOU ALL are OUR family as well!"

Yara Shahidi, who plays Zoey Johnson on both Black-ish and her spinoff series, Grown-ish, also penned a letter of farewell in November, calling the "butterfly effect" of talented artists who have touched the show in some way before moving onto their own projects "surreal and impactful."

"🤎JOHNSON FAMILY 🤎 I sit in such gratitude for the family I gained 8 years ago. I’m so thankful for this journey - starting with my FIRST audition with @anthonyanderson and @kenyabarris and having SUCH a fun time that I immediately knew how special this was! I send so much love to my cast who I’ve grown up with and gotten to tell so many incredible stories (thank youuu writers!) alongside," she wrote. 

"Of course I never stop talking about how incredible our crew is. From the folks that have been with us from the beginning to every wonderful new edition- your passion in telling these stories is evident and you make every episode art 🖼 Talking with Laurence we reflected on how the beauty of @blackishabc is not only the magic we got to share on screen, but how many talented folks touched this project and went on to do their own incredible projects- the butterfly effect is surreal and impactful. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU."

See the other cast members' goodbye notes below, including Jenifer Lewis, Miles Brown and Marcus Scribner. 

Black-ish's eighth and final season will premiere on ABC Tuesday, Jan. 4. 

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