Justin Spitzer's irreverent, delightfully weird workplace comedy Superstore, which ran from 2015 to 2021shared some traits with other popular "office" sitcoms like Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Parks and Recreation, and, well, The Office—if any of those shows had the guts to find severed feet in their respective workplaces, t .e. So why did the show end after season six?

The answer is both simple and complicated to be honest; a major star made the choice to leave the show behind for new opportunities, and the global pandemic reduced almost all human interaction and work for a while (though the show did make the "most" of that situation, so to speak). Let's back up for a moment though. "Superstore," true to its name, takes place in a fictional big-box store called Cloud 9 — which of course bears some similarities to Targets and Walmarts across the country — and in a particular branch in St. Louis, Missouri that happens to be home to a colorful cast. characters.

Jonah Sims, played by Ben Feldman, is the audience's entry point into the show's social ecosystem — Jonah takes a job there after dropping out of business school, putting him immediately at odds with his colleagues — and during his time at Cloud 9, Jonah working under floor associate Amy Sosa (America Ferrera), oddly intense assistant store manager Deanna Fox (Lauren Ash), and ecclesiastical, positive store manager Glenn Sturgis (Mark McKinney). The main cast of characters is rounded out by the rest of Cloud 9's staff, including Nicole Sakura's bubbly Cheyenne Lee, Colton Dunn's sardonic Garrett McNeil, and Nico Santos as the delightfully doomed Mateo Fernando Aquino Livanag, creating a diverse and entertaining cast of characters. . Here's why the show had to end, though, despite what it was one of the best comedies in the workplace ever made.

America Ferrera – who was previously known for projects like Ugly Betty and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants before taking the Superstore job – announced that she would be leaving the show in February 2020, just weeks after the show was renewed for its sixth season. In a statement received from the outlets as DeadlineFerrera - who also directed several episodes and served as a producer on the series - said: "The last five years on 'Superstore' have been some of the most rewarding, enriching and enjoyable years of my career (...) As I begin the next chapter for my family and career, I wish only the best and much continued success to my beloved Superstore family.

This all went down in February 2020, and we all know what happened the following month. The world more or less completely shut down for several weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing everyone into isolation long before a vaccine was available; naturally, this affected the production of "Superstore". The show was filming again in the fall of 2020 — using protective gear like face masks, just like their actual "core workers" would in a real big-box store like Cloud 9 — but in December of that year. Diversity announced that Season 6 would close the series entirely, with the finale eventually airing in February 2021. Did Ferrera's departure seal the fate of "Superstore?" It probably had to do with pandemic delays as well, but it certainly didn't help that one of the show's highest-profile performers left the project before COVID-19 became an issue.

Ultimately, America Ferrera—and, by extension, Amy Sosa—returned at the very end of Superstore, including the All-Sale Finale, to bring everything full circle. With the uncertain future of the St. Louis store Cloud 9 looming over all the characters, they eventually decide to scatter and pursue new opportunities as the store prepares to become an online fulfillment center. While Dina has to choose five employees to work at the fulfillment center, Glenn and Amy decide to move on, and as Garrett reflects on his ups and downs at Cloud 9, viewers get a helpful montage of what's going on with all the Superstore characters. after the events of the finale.

Amy and Jonah, whose slow-burn romance was a huge part of the seriesmarry and have a child together (with Jonah running for local political office and Amy continuing to work in corporate America in the process), and Dinah and Garrett, whose love affair was significantly weirder, too, get yourself together; Glenn reopens his family's hardware store, Sturgis & Sons, and hires Matteo, Cheyenne, and her wayward husband Bo (Johnny Pemberton) to work there with him. (Dina also still works at the fulfillment center along with several colleagues). It also turns out that one of the shop's weirdest employees, a creep named Elias played by Danny Gura, has been leaving all those severed feet all over the place, so there's that.

"Superstore" is now streaming on Hulu.