How Will ‘Grown-ish’ End for Andre? Marcus Scribner Teases Twists to Come
Q&A
Among the characters audiences are preparing to say goodbye to with grown-ish now airing its final episodes is Marcus Scribner’s beloved character, Andre, one of the younger members of the Johnson family. The dramedy spinoff of ABC’s black-ish returned on March 27. Andre, who once went by Junior on black-ish, is now a senior at Cal U, navigating the pressures of college relationships, a budding entertainment management career and his nearing entrance to the real world.
TV Insider spoke with Scribner and had him reflect on his decade-long tenure as Andre, the star-studded cast and shocking twists of Season 6, and the possibility of future cast reunions.
You’ve played Andre for more than 10 years now. What would you say you’ve learned most from this character, and how does it feel now that you’re preparing to let him go?
Marcus Scribner: It feels odd, honestly. I was ready to let go of the character after black-ish, and then they came to me with the idea of stepping into grown-ish and leading the show a bit. It really excited me. I was excited to be able to grow that character in a new direction. I was ready for the departure and then this came along, and I was so happy that I got to continue his story and see where he ended up in life. I’m glad this is the finale that we’re being given.
What I learned from Junior — he really has an undying sense of confidence. It’s very undervalued. He faces a lot of flak from his family, specifically his dad. He takes it all in stride, and he’s always held his head up high, no matter what situation he’s in. I’ve been inspired by the character to hopefully do so in my real life.
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Audiences have watched your character grow up since 2013. Who would you say he is now as a near college graduate ahead of the last few episodes? In what ways is he the same or different than the Junior we first met on black-ish?
He still has that unwavering sense of confidence, knowledge, and understanding of who he is. Now, he has more real-world, applicable skills. He has become a manager, and he’s more confident in his career. He’s also been able to step outside of the shadow of Zoey [Yara Shahidi], his older sister; that’s been a point of contention for him for some seasons. He’s finally entering adulthood. I don’t think he has things completely figured out, even towards the end of the show, but there’s a sense that he’s going to be alright. He has a goal in mind, and he’s ready to work for it.
Season 6 has had a lot of guest stars, including Kelly Rowland, The Free Nationals and Lil Yachty, whom you got to work with in Episode 10, and there are more coming. What has it been like working with some of these stars to close out the series? Who else can we look out for?
It’s been a blast. To be honest, you never know what to expect. I’ve been blown away by their professionalism and enthusiasm for the craft. This isn’t just a side gig to them. They all took it super seriously, and it was a lot of fun. [Lil Yachty] was a great time on set. Kelly Rowland is obviously a legend. We have Rich Paul coming in one of our later episodes this season, which I’m really excited about. He was great, instilled a lot of business knowledge. I feel so fortunate to have been on a show that has had such a cultural impact and has been able to get such amazing Black guests. They’ve all been wonderful. I’m excited for everyone to see the guest stars this season.
Before returning, Season 6 left off with Annika (Justine Skye) and Andre’s breakup, and we see that tensions in the friend group are high. They want to support Andre as he starts his entertainment business and Annika, too, as she reels in this breakup. What are the chances of them getting back together, and would that be something Andre wants? What’s coming up for the two?
I think people are going to be very surprised with the direction that the show goes with their relationship. They make good friends, but I don’t know if they’re completely aligned when it comes to being in a relationship. But we’ll see what happens. Grown-ish is all about the toxic relationship situation. They might not know what’s good for them and just fall back into old patterns, or, who knows. This season is going to a place nobody in the audience would expect.
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Graduation is approaching for Andre in this final season, and we see his ambitions to break into entertainment management. Would you ever want to reprise Andre’s role as he settles into adulthood, perhaps as an entertainment manager? What do you think that would look like?
I would love to, in the future, some years from now, come back to the role. I’d love to do a black-ish reunion episode or movie or something like that, five or 10 years down the line. That’d be a lot of fun. Being a manager, like my manager Brian Dobbins, you’re a cool guy, that could be a lot of fun. I’d be curious to see where Andre is in five years. I have no idea. He seems like he’s pretty set on his path currently, but anything can change at any moment.
What should audiences expect from the season finale? Do you think that there could be any room for a future spin-off?
I think we bring a pretty good conclusion to Junior’s story with our series finale that I’m very, very happy with. [Kenya Barris, show creator] is always coming up new ideas, so I’m sure there could be some spinoffs down the line. I keep seeing people talk about Jack [Miles Brown] and Diane [Marsai Martin] going to college, that‘d be sick. I’m not going to close the door on that. There’s definitely a possibility for more, but we send Junior off with a conclusive finale.
What was the environment on set like this final season with your costars since 2018? Do you have any favorite memories from filming this final chapter?
Our final episode is pretty insane. I think people are going to really, really enjoy it. It’s a great send-off for the characters, and it was just very emotional. We’ve all been doing this for a large chunk of our lives. It has been very transformative for most of us — career- and life-wise — and for a lot of our crew, too, who have been with us since black-ish. Ten-plus years of working with the same people, they became family. It was definitely a somber energy toward our last few episodes, but we always keep it light. One of the best parts of working on grown-ish is that we’re always laughing and having a good time. It was definitely different than usual, though.
Speaking of family, you’ve been lucky to work with a lot of the same costars since your time on black-ish, including Yara Shahidi and Anthony Anderson. What stands out as something you’ve learned from or taught each other after playing a family for so long?
They led by example. Just being able to see [Anderson] in action and the energy created on set was something I wanted to emulate. He always allowed us to joke around and have a good time and not take things too seriously, which, especially for a show like grown-ish, where we’re all playing best friends, is very, very important to our character work. We always say, “It’s not a grown-ish day unless we’re having a good time.” We try not to get too stressed about deadlines, which is why we end up having 16- or 17-hour days, but I feel like it leads to better work. It creates those relationships that you want to see on screen and feel real. Same thing with [Shahidi]. [Shahidi] has a crazy, crazy work ethic. Seeing her go to school and work at the same time and watching the way that she interacts with the crew was really eye opening. They both led by example, and I was able to implement it into what I did for the final two seasons of grown-ish.
As you close this chapter on grown-ish, are there any new projects on the horizon for you?
I just moved to New York recently, which I’m very excited about. I’m trying to break a little bit more into the theater scene, so we’ll see how that goes. As of now, I’m trying to do more producer work and find projects to work on. I’m figuring out my next steps, trying to see what I want to do.
Grown-ish, Wednesdays, 10/9c Freeform
