‘Superstore’ Bosses on Season 5’s Unexpected Finale & America Ferrera’s Exit
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Superstore Season 5, Episode 21, “California Part 1.”]
Superstore bid viewers farewell for the season with “California Part 1,” which was meant to be the first half of a two part finale building to the exit of star America Ferrera.
After it was revealed that Amy (Ferrera) had been recommended for a corporate position with Zephra, fans see her explore the job position by undergoing an interesting interview. Just one problem — Amy is looking into the career opportunity without telling Jonah (Ben Feldman). Eventually, Amy’s offered the job, and she jumps at the chance, but Jonah’s reaction isn’t the most supportive.
With some time to think, Jonah reconsiders his reaction to Amy’s choice and fans last see the pair making plans to move to sunny California. They’re taking a leap of faith, but will it pan out? Showrunners Jonathan Green and Gabe Miller know, but they won’t spoil what lays ahead.
“We didn’t actually realize that it was going to be our finale until we were on our next to last day of shooting. We got very lucky that we had already conceived these last two episodes as a two-parter,” says Green. Production shut down before the show could begin filming “California Part 2,” which means fans will have to wait until next season to bid Amy farewell.
(Credit: Casey Durkin/NBC)
“The plan is to have Amy’s farewell episode be the first episode of Season 6,” Miller adds, promising viewers they can expect a proper sendoff for Ferrera. “America was immediately on board with that,” Miller adds of the adjustment to production. “Not only that, she might’ve even been the one who insisted on it from the beginning and obviously we were very much on board.”
As for Amy and Jonah’s future? We know they will definitely be living separate lives, as Miller confirms “Ben Feldman will be staying on the show.” Green then adds, “But we don’t want to give away too much of how that ends up happening.”
One of the major storylines from the finale includes tokenism in the workplace as Amy realizes she’s been profiled for the Zephra job. “That idea came from America originally,” Green credits, “that idea of tokenism. And we’d never want to tackle an issue unless we can find some comedy in it.
“In this case, it was Amy getting in her head enough about it that she starts to spin out and wonder, ‘Do I really have to sell myself as a Latina instead of just on my merits and qualifications for this job?’ And her, because she starts spinning out, getting a little too much into it,” he adds. The situation also feeds into her conflict with Jonah, as he worries she’s selling out to corporate at the expense of her pride.
(Credit: Casey Durkin/NBC)
“We always try to approach it from character,” Miller says. “And it seemed to fit Amy and Jonah well to get into this interesting discussion … Jonah would be justified in saying ‘they don’t want you for the right reasons.’ But it fits Amy and what we’ve seen of her story to point out that there’s a certain privilege in being able to turn down a job.
“She obviously doesn’t want to be a token but she doesn’t have all the avenues for advancement that someone with Jonah’s education and connections might have,” Miller continues. “So she can’t really afford to turn that down.”
While this doesn’t mean the end of Amy and Jonah just yet, the beloved Cloud 9 pair isn’t out of the woods. Only time will tell. And the finale also saw cliffhangers for a number of other characters, from Cheyenne’s (Nichole Bloom) Fyre Fest-style birthday blowout — with the reluctant help of Mateo (Nico Santos) — to an adoption for Sandra (Kaliko Kauahi), who took in Glenn’s (Mark McKinney) former foster son, Tony.
“We’re definitely planning to follow through on that predicament that Cheyenne has found herself in at the end of the episode,” Miller says. If anyone else if familiar with Fyre Fest they’ll know the would-be music festival turned into a complete disaster, which is where Cheyenne’s 21st birthday celebration was headed after she revealed at least 500 people had bought tickets to what was a completely false advertisement.
(Credit: Casey Durkin/NBC)
As for Sandra’s new role, Green says, “we’re excited to see what Sandra is like as a mom. That’s definitely something we’re planning to see more of, that side of Sandra as a mom.”
Miller and Green also are aware of the significant connection between the ongoing pandemic and stores like Cloud 9 in real life. “We’ve only just started to talk about plans for Season 6,” Miller says, “but it does feel like our show has always been a show that tries to reflect reality and real life situations.”
“We’re in a little bit of a holding pattern right now waiting to see what life is like,” Green adds. “But I think it would feel strange for a show like ours not to be addressing it at all,” he says.
Superstore, Season 6, TBA, NBC
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