Attention Cloud 9 shoppers, some bad news to report: America Ferrera is leaving Superstore following the sitcom’s current season. The news was announced Friday by NBC and Ferrera herself.
“The last five years on Superstore have been some of the most rewarding, enriching and enjoyable years of my career,” Ferrera said in a statement released to Hollywood trades as part of a coordinated break. “Producing, directing and acting with this wonderful cast and crew has given me opportunities to grow as a person and storyteller. I’m so grateful to my partners at NBC and Universal Television for the support and belief they have always placed in the show, and I’m most thankful to the brilliant Justin Spitzer for creating the funny, smart and relevant world of Superstore and inviting me to be a part of it. As I start the next chapter for my family and career, I wish only the best, and much continued success, to my beloved Superstore family.”
Superstore debuted in 2015; the show focuses on workers at a fictional big-box store, Cloud 9, in St. Louis, Missouri. Throughout its run, Superstore has been lauded by critics and fans for its diverse cast and relevant storytelling. The Season 4 finale, for instance, concluded with Mateo (Nico Santos), an undocumented worker, being detained by ICE and brought to a detention center. That storyline was not dropped between seasons, though Mateo has since been released from detention as he awaits his fate.
“The fact that our cast is so diverse is what allows us to do the stories that we do,” Ferrera said during Comic-Con in San Diego last summer. “You can’t tell stories about deportation if you have a cast of 10 people who are exactly the same. You need diversity, and that diversity of our cast is the opportunity to throw any kind of issue at this gang and know that everyone is going to be reacting to it from a different point of view and a different life experience. So the fact that this show began with this type of diversity embedded in it the DNA of multiple perspectives and an America that was multidimensional. So, it isn’t in spite of the diversity, it’s because of the diversity that we are allowed to do what the show does really well.”
In addition to Ferrera and Santos, Superstore stars Ben Feldman, Lauren Ash, Colton Dunn, Nichole Bloom, Mark McKinney, and Kaliko Kauahi. The characters played by Ferrera and Feldman are a couple at the moment; it's unclear how the show will reconcile their relationship once Ferrera exits. The season finale is set to air in April.
Superstore marked Ferrera's return to episodic television following her breakout performance on ABC's Ugly Betty. Her time on the series was marked by personal milestones (she gave birth to her first child with husband Ryan Piers Williams in 2018) and a continued commitment to political activism (Ferrera spoke at the 2016 Democratic national convention and has been a vocal member of Time's Up). Earlier this year, she announced her second pregnancy. “Now that I’m gonna have two, I’m sure that’s just gonna get even more complicated,” Ferrera recently told Access. “But in a way, having children—and especially children who I hope identify with their cultural roots—it all feels so much more important. I feel like being a mother has energized me and has focused me.”
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