The Middle’s Eden Sher and Brock Ciarlelli Recap Pilot of Cancelled Sue Heck Spinoff, Share Never-Before-Seen Photos — Watch

It could have been the year of Sue (and Brad).

10 Cancelled TV Spinoffs We Wish We’d Seen

Six years after ABC passed on an offshoot of the long-running family sitcom The Middle , would-be spinoff stars Eden Sher and Brock Ciarlelli (aka Sue and Brad) are telling fans what they would have seen in the show, which at one point went by the working title Sue Sue in the City .

The pilot, ordered by ABC in August 2018, would have seen Sher reprise her breakout role as Mike and Frankie’s daughter, Sue Heck, as she leaves Orson, Ind., to pursue a career in Chicago, Ill. The Middle creators Eileen Heisler and DeAnn Heline penned the script, and were set to serve as executive producers. Alas, the Alphabet network decided not to move forward with the show .

“We did film it, and it was pretty devastating when it didn’t go,” Sher says in the Instagram video below. “We were all… pretty shocked, to be honest.” Adds Ciarlelli: “It was one of those things where, because we had just come straight off of [ The Middle ] and [the network] was super excited about the show, we were like, ‘Of course this is going to get picked up. And it was a really good show.”

Though a flash-forward sequence at the end of The Middle ‘s May 2018 series finale revealed that Sue eventually marries next-door neighbor Sean, the spinoff was set long before their big day, leaving Sue single and ready to (awkwardly) mingle. “It took place, like, three years in the future,” Sher reveals. “She’s in her mid-20s, she’s graduated from college…. Basically, Sue goes to Chicago, tries to save a hotel, and the cast of characters” — which included Chris Diamantopoulos ( Silicon Valley ) as hotel owner Nick, Finesse Mitchell ( Saturday Night Live ) as bartender Hudson, and Kimberley Crossman ( Creamerie ) as hotel chef Remi — “was really good.”

The Middle Series Finale Recap: Do the Hecks Live Happily Ever After?

Sue eventually would find herself at her “lowest point,” which set the stage for Sue’s best friend Brad to come “flying in on a taxi” to save the day. “So, we have our Brad-and-Sue stuff — you’re used to that — and then we danced in the streets of Chicago and it started to snow,” Ciarlelli shares. “That’s how it ended. It was really cute.”

In the video, Sher also shows off a selection of never-before-seen ABC publicity stills taken for the pilot, which reveal an all-grown-up Sue in a power suit, ready to grab life by the horns.

Sher and Ciarlelli intend to share more about the scrapped spinoff in the first episode of their forthcoming Middle rewatch podcast, aptly titled Middling , when it premieres on Wednesday, July 31. In the meantime, hit the comments and tell us if you’re still upset that we never got to see Sue Sue in the City .

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