How ‘Superstore’ is moving forward without star America Ferrera

Thursday night’s “Superstore” season finale left viewers with a half-cliffhanger after series star America Ferrera announced on Instagram that she was leaving the NBC sitcom — just after it was renewed for a sixth season in February. On the two-part finale, concluding this fall, Ferrera’s character, Amy Sosa, accepted a job with Cloud 9’s corporate …

Thursday night’s “Superstore” season finale left viewers with a half-cliffhanger after series star America Ferrera announced on Instagram that she was leaving the NBC sitcom — just after it was renewed for a sixth season in February.

On the two-part finale, concluding this fall, Ferrera’s character, Amy Sosa, accepted a job with Cloud 9’s corporate parent in California, thousands of miles from the store’s St. Louis location. That was expected as a way to explain Ferrera’s departure. What wasn’t expected was Amy’s boyfriend, Cloud 9 associate Jonah (Ben Feldman), offering to move with her to the West Coast.

“We had to shut down production one week early (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) so we didn’t get to shoot what was planned as the season finale,” says “Superstore” co-showrunner Jonathan Greene. “The farewell episode was going to give Amy and America their proper sendoffs; we did a table read [for the episode] but didn’t get to shoot it. At the same time, America agreed, and was fully on-board, for doing that as the season premiere next season.

“You’ll have to tune in at the beginning of Season 6 to find out if Jonah will go with Amy to California.”

Co-showrunner Gabe Miller says the show’s staff was apprised “about halfway through the season” that Ferrera might be (amicably) leaving. “We were prepared for it to possibly happen,” he says. “There were a lot of factors involved; she’s so talented as an actor and now as a director and executive producer of ‘Gentefied’ on Netflix. She’s got so much going on that it wasn’t surprising she would want to go. She’s had a lot of opportunities come her way.”

Greene says that the door is open to Ferrera perhaps returning to “Superstore” after her swan song. “There’s no specific plan to bring America back, but we would love to have her return from time to time,” he says. “One of the great things about [Amy] leaving to join corporate is that she’ll still be in the world of the show — so that makes it easy to bring her back as needed and wanted.”

With Ferrera’s imminent departure, the show’s writers and producers are thinking of ways to retool and refine the show’s ensemble core cast: Lauren Ash (no-nonsense Dina), Mark McKinney (high-talker Glenn), Colton Dunn (sarcastic Garrett), Nichole Bloom (wifty millennial Cheyenne) and Nico Santos (Cheyennne’s work bff, Mateo).

Lauren Ash as Dina and America Ferrera as Amy.Casey Durkin/NBC

“I think we’re looking to use some of the space and energy that went to Amy and to spread that a little more around the cast,” says Miller. “We’ll get a little deeper into those characters and see their dynamics with each other and have them stepping up and looking out for each other. Garrett is someone who can be the ‘sensible’ stand-in for viewers as he reacts to the more crazy elements [of his co-workers]. Glenn has had a parental role, looking out for the staff, at times.

“Those elements are there and maybe we’ll bring them out or some people will step up.”

And there is the possibility of a new cast member joining the show, Miller and Green say. “It’s something we’ve definitely talked about and it’s a natural question when a cast member leaves,” Miller says. “I think there’s a reasonable chance to eventually bring someone else in.”

“It’s not so much replacing Amy,” says Greene. “At this point in the show’s run, going into a sixth season, we want to bring in new elements to shake things up for our characters.”