The final season of Black-ish includes an all-star cast of cameos — including a very special sports-centric episode featuring Magic Johnson, Stephen A. Smith, Simone Biles, and a deep bench of Lakers.
Black-ish is winding down, but it is not going out quietly.
After an outstanding eight-year run, the ABC sitcom will conclude at the end of the current season. However, in the run-up to the final episode, the show’s production team is pulling out all the stops. The show has won a laundry list of awards, ranging from Peabodys to NAACP Image Awards, and even a recent win from Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild.
The show’s star, five-time Emmy nominee Tracee Ellis Ross, penned a fond farewell to her role as Bow — a doctor, wife, and mother — who has evolved immensely throughout the show’s run. She noted that this season serves a as “beautiful goodbye” to the family that they’ve built together.
To bid proper farewell, Black-ish has tapped a lengthy list of entertainers, athletes, and more, continuing their tradition of storytelling rooted in humor and humanity.
Inside “Bow-Mo”
In the final season’s third episode, entitled “Bow-Mo,” there is a guest star lineup that rivals the VIP list at the ESPYs.
The show promises that Anthony Anderson’s character, Dre, calls into a show and is “humiliated” in front of his daughter by its host, played by the one and only Stephen A. Smith. While the premise of the episode is being kept under wraps, one has to assume that the Lakers will play a central role as the guests include:
- Magic Johnson
- Jeanie Buss
- DeAndre Jordan
- Kent Bazemore
- Malik Monk
- Kendrick Nunn
- Montrezl Harrell
- Dwight Howard
- Rajon Rondo
But outshining all of the purple and gold star power is the promise of the GOAT, seven-time Olympic medalist Simone Biles.
Additionally, the episode features appearances by Hamilton star Daveed Diggs, Vivica A. Fox, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, and Isaiah Mustafa.
Black-ish Bookings
Black-ish has an impressive legacy of crossover moments.
In the Season 8 premiere, they tapped their biggest name yet, former First Lady Michelle Obama. But she was not the first big name to grace the screen as part of the show’s star-studded entourage, which has included everyone from Tyra Banks to enduring Hollywood mainstays Jennifer Lewis and Laurence Fishburne, who each play recurring roles on the show.
But sports have been an important part of the narrative. In past seasons, viewers have seen:
- Michael Strahan (2015’s “Jacked o’ Lantern”)
- Allyson Felix & Terrell Owens (2016’s “100 Yards and Runnin'”)
Sports moments have not always been pure entertainment in the show’s trajectory. A 2018 episode of the show called “Please, Baby, Please,” which included a scene where Dre and eldest son Junior get into a heated debate about an athlete’s right to kneel, was pulled by ABC after creator Kenya Barris failed to resolve his creative differences with the network on the matter.
As the final episodes tick down, we’ll see who else may grace the screen. But what’s already confirmed is that the cultural impact of Black-ish will not soon be forgotten when its characters read their final lines.
Subscribe for the biggest stories in the business of sports and entertainment, daily.
