Yara Shahidi to Headline Freeform’s ‘black-ish’ Spinoff ‘college-ish’

Jeff Pfeiffer May 19, 2017, 5:59 pm

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Yara Shahidi as Zoey in Black-ish — ABC/Tony Rivetti

Yara Shahidi as Zoey in 'black-ish.' Shahidi will reprise the character in a spinoff for Freeform, currently titled 'college-ish.'

Freeform announced Friday that it has ordered the scripted comedy series college-ish (working title), a spinoff of parent network ABC’s hit sitcom black-ish, for early 2018. The 13-episode half-hour comedy will feature black-ish‘s breakout star Yara Shahidi, who plays Zoey Johnson, with Deon Cole also reprising his black-ish character Charlie Telphy.

Kenya Barris, executive producer of black-ish, will also executive produce college-ish, with Anthony Anderson, Laurence Fishburne, Helen Sugland and Brian Dobbins. Barris also wrote the show with Larry Wilmore.

“I never thought they’d let me put black-ish on the air let alone give me a spin-off,” Barris said in a release. “I couldn’t be more excited for the opportunity to continue working with Yara and the rest of this talented young cast. To any aspiring writers struggling to make it out there, I highly advise adding an ‘–ish’ to any working title you might have. It seems to be the move.”

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According to Freeform, college-ish will follow Zoey as she heads off to college. She’ll interact with Deon, who moonlights as an adjunct marketing professor, as well as “funny new characters both in the administration and student body who all reflect the complex and hilarious points of views that populate college campuses.”

college-ish (working title), Early 2018, Freeform