After Jeff Garlin abruptly left The Goldbergs at the end of last year, the ABC sitcom managed to complete the actor’s remaining scenes in season 9 by using his body double and superimposing his face in post-production. The show, however, won’t be doing this again for its upcoming season 10, as the creative team behind the series has finally come to a decision to kill off Garlin’s character.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, co-showrunners Alex Barnow and Chris Bishop revealed that The Goldbergs is permanently writing Murray (Garlin) out of the series by killing him off in-between seasons. Barnow said that when season 10 starts, it’s been multiple months since Murray passed away.
The Goldbergs season 10 will open with the birth of Erica (Hayley Orrantia) and Geoff’s (Sam Lerner) first child. That happy event, however, comes with mixed emotions, as the Goldbergs are still getting used to a world without their patriarch.
“This is going to be a family that has not reconciled the fact that their father’s gone but has sort of moved on and has dealt with a lot of that,” Barnow teased of what the family dynamic will be like in the new season. “So we’re starting with optimism about a baby coming and looking forward to the future. It’s an opportunity for this interesting emotional basis for the way people are behaving.”
Bishop added that killing off Murray made The Goldbergs season 10 “feels like a huge reboot”
When asked if Garlin knows that Murray is dying, Barnow said, “I’ve had a conversation with Jeff and he’s aware that he’s not being replaced. The truth is, I don’t know if he knows what his fate is, but I’m assuming he knows, would be the answer to that question. We haven’t had a subsequent conversation since the beginning of writing that he would have any specific clarity on that.”
Why did Jeff Garlin leave The Goldbergs?
Garlin exited the series last December following a human resources investigation stemming from several complaints about his on-set behavior, including alleged lewd language and unwarranted touching.
In an interview with Vanity Fair prior to his departure from the show, Garlin shared that HR had come to him three years in a row to discuss his behavior. When asked what HR had brought to him, Garlin said, “I am sorry to tell you that there really is no big story. Unless you want to do a story about political correctness.”
“There is no story,” the actor reiterated. “And I’m saying that in all sincerity, because that’s the thing that has me confused. Even with [series producer] Sony—we have a difference of opinion, Sony and myself. Okay. My opinion is, I have my process about how I’m funny, in terms of the scene and what I have to do. They feel that it makes for a quote “unsafe” workspace. Now, mind you, my silliness making an unsafe workspace—I don’t understand how that is. And I’m on a comedy show. I am always a kind and thoughtful person. I make mistakes, sure. But my comedy is about easing people’s pain. Why would I ever want to cause pain in anybody for a laugh? That’s bullying. That’s just uncalled for.”
While Garlin refused to specify any of his allegedly problematic on-set behavior during his interview with Vanity Fair, Deadline reported that the actor had retaliated after a female camera assistant who made an HR complaint about his behavior on set. According to the news outlet, Garlin’s frequent use of the word “vagina” to try and get a laugh out of the crew disturbed the camera assistant, which led the latter to make a complaint to HR.
“After the actor found out, he reportedly put his hands around her and kept saying ‘vagina’ in her face over and over again,” read a portion of Deadline’s report.
The Goldbergs season 10 release date
The Goldbergs season 10 is set to premiere on Wednesday, September 21st, 2022 at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC.