Where The Cast Of The Middle Is Now

A lot of network sitcoms in the late-2000s-to-early-2010s era became massive, totemic cultural institutions, with years and years of prestige, piles of awards, and outsized influence to their name — some deservedly, some less so. Alas, this was never the case of ABC's perpetually underrated Patricia Heaton-starring family sitcom "The Middle," which enjoyed a respectable nine-year run and garnered a loyal following, yet it never broke ratings records or won major awards.

A rich, unflaggingly honest, and hilarious look at an underachieving yet loving family trying to make the best of lower-middle-class existence in the fictional small town of Orson, Indiana, "The Middle" ought to at least have snagged a couple of Emmys for its excellent cast, which masterfully brought a litany of multifaceted comedic characters to life over the course of nine years. 

If you're a "The Middle" fan wondering where everyone has been since the show wrapped up in 2018, read on for answers.

On season 4 of "The Middle," Axl Heck (Charlie McDermott) is tutored by the bookish and introverted Cassidy Finch, who eventually begins a relationship with him. Cassidy was played by Galadriel Stineman, an actress who had previously made a one-off appearance on season 3 as an unrelated Orson High School student, but as Cassidy, she appeared on a total of 12 episodes across seasons 4, 5, and 8.

Since her stint on "The Middle," Stineman has continued to appear regularly on television. In 2019, she had guest spots as Donna on NBC's "This Is Us," Nina Sutton on Fox's "9-1-1," and Fiona on ABC's short-lived "The Kids Are Alright," followed by an appearance as Sierra Kruger on a 2022 episode of CBS's "NCIS." More recently, she also guest starred as Cynthia on CBS's "Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage," a "Young Sheldon" spin-off with a big advantage over its parent show. She has also been doing a lot of film acting, including the leading role in the 2022 made-for-TV romcom "Plus One at an Amish Wedding" (pictured above), a supporting role in the 2023 neo-noir "LaRoy, Texas," and a small role in the 2024 Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle "Darkness of Man."

Frankie's (Patricia Heaton) selfish, sexist, and cantankerous boss at Ehlert Motors, Don Ehlert, was a frequent antagonist across the first four seasons before Frankie finally quit her job and reinvented herself as a dental hygienist, and continued to appear until season 9 as a notable Orson citizen. He was portrayed by prolific American actor Brian Doyle-Murray, one of the biggest names in the cast of "The Middle."

The older brother of Bill Murray, Brian Doyle-Murray is an Emmy-nominated writer as well as a live-action and voice actor with a large resumé. Towards the end of "The Middle'"s run, he co-starred with his brother Bill on the Facebook Watch reality series "Bill Murray & Brian Doyle-Murray's Extra Innings," and did three episodes of HBO's "Veep" as George Huntzinger. Following "The Middle," he had a recurring role as another retail boss, Bob Kruger, on the cult favorite AMC dramedy "Lodge 49" (above), and returned to one of his most famous roles: the Flying Dutchman, a staple of many of the best "SpongeBob SquarePants" episodes.

After Axl goes to college, he finds a new best friend in Charles "Hutch" Hutchinson, a fellow footballer from Chicago who eventually becomes his roommate. The two become partners and confidantes in a lot of Axl's college misadventures, and, because Hutch is similar to Axl in personality and interests yet much more level-headed and responsible, he eventually inspires the eldest Heck sibling to start taking adult life seriously.

Hutch is played by Alphonso McAuley, who joined "The Middle" after appearing as a series regular on the short-lived Fox sitcom "Breaking In." He also had a regular role as Dax on Netflix's "Girlboss" concurrently with "The Middle'"s latter seasons, and, shortly after both shows concluded, he appeared as Vivien Thomas on the 2019 Netflix special "Kevin Hart's Guide to Black History." Between 2019 and 2020, McAuley recurred as Coop on the ABC "The Goldbergs" spin-off "Schooled." In film, he had supporting roles in the 2018 Freeform romcom "No Sleep 'Til Christmas," the 2021 indie drama "Broken Diamond," the 2022 superhero comedy "The Hyperions," and the 2024 time-loop family comedy "The Present" (pictured above).

One of "The Middle'"s most prominent recurring characters from season 7 onward is Lexie Brooks, the kind-hearted rich girl who becomes Sue's (Eden Sher) roommate and best friend at East Indiana State — and later starts dating and then marries Axl, at which point she becomes Lexie Heck. She is played by Mexican-Canadian actress Daniela Bobadilla.

Since appearing on "The Middle," Bobadilla has kept busy with both live-action and voice roles. One year after "The Middle" wrapped, she hopped on over to "Modern Family" for a guest stint as Trish. As a voice actor, meanwhile, she played Mist, a.k.a. Andie Murphy on two episodes of "Young Justice," first on season 3 (which aired on DC Universe, prior to its rebrand as a comic book subscription only) and then on the HBO Max-bound season 4. She also voiced Miss Martian in the 2019 animated film "Justice League vs. the Fatal Five" and Princess Isabel in the same year's "Curious George: Royal Monkey."

Also notable to "The Middle" fans is the fact that, in 2018, Bobadilla married Beau Wirick, who played Lexie's brief pre-Axl love interest Sean Donohue. The two even starred together in the 2023 made-for-TV romcom "The Happy Camper" (pictured above).

Axl and Hutch's roommate Kenny, who is initially only seen gaming endlessly at his computer desk with his back always turned to the camera, was a character who rose unexpectedly in prominence as "The Middle" went on, even getting married (with Axl and Hutch in attendance) in season 9. In his silent appearances where his face wasn't visible as well as his later, more substantial spots, Kenny was played by American actor Tommy Bechtold.

After the show, Bechtold had a small uncredited role in the 2019 Steven Soderbergh-directed Netflix film "The Laundromat," voiced multiple characters on the VR animated talk show "Live from the 8th Dimension," and starred in the independent 2020 comedy-thriller flick "For the Weekend." Between 2022 and 2023, he made a number of single-episode guest appearances on various shows, including "Gaslit," "Welcome to Chippendales," "Hunters," and Quinta Brunson's must-watch sitcom "Abbott Elementary" (pictured above). In 2025, he had a supporting role in the Disneysploitaiton horror flick "Screamboat."

Axl and Sean's dimwitted friend Darrin McGrew is one of the most endearing recurring characters on "The Middle." Depicted as the most earnest and kindhearted member of the trio, despite his low intelligence and poor academic performance, he eventually strikes up a relationship with Sue and even goes so far as to propose to her, though she ultimately declines. Unlike Sean, Darrin is unfortunately not seen again after the end of season 6, and the last we hear of him is that he went to study at the Midwest Institute of Air Conditioning Repair.

Darrin is played by John Gammon, who had guest roles on CBS' "CSI" and Fox's "America's Most Wanted" prior to joining "The Middle." Since his last appearance on "The Middle" in 2015, Gammon has not done a lot of screen acting; his only credited roles have been on the 2015 YouTube sketch "A Man's World" from Cats on a Leash Productions, and the 2017 short film "Jax in Love" (pictured above).

Nancy Donahue, head of the Donahue family and always friendly neighbor to the Hecks, is one of a handful of "The Middle" characters to have had a recurring role on every season; the seeming idyll of her family live provides a constant contrast to the Hecks' chaos, with Frankie's envy of her making up one of the show's main running jokes.

At 51 total appearances, Nancy is one of the most frequently-seen members of the supporting cast of "The Middle." She is played by Illinois-born actress Jen Ray. Even though Nancy Donahue is the most visible role of her screen career, she has also appeared in a handful of other projects since "The Middle" concluded. Those rules include a small appearance in the 2018 film "Wake." and a main role as Jo the Cook in all three episodes of the web series "Mrs. Carmody & Mrs. Jellineck." Between 2019 and 2022, she had a recurring role as Chelsea Lam on the ABC daytime soap "General Hospital" (seen above) and then returned to "General Hospital" as Suzanne, a different character, in 2025. Also in 2025, Ray made a guest appearance as Doreen on an episode of Netflix's "Monster: The Ed Gein Story."

Bob Weaver, Frankie's hapless friend at Ehlert Motors, is the only character outside of the Heck family to have been billed as a series regular at any point during "The Middle'"s run, which he was for the first two seasons. A lonely man who leans on the Hecks as a kind of found family during the show's early years, Bob is played by "Saturday Night Live" alum Chris Kattan.

If you're wondering what happened to Chris Kattan since his "SNL" breakthrough, his "The Middle" appearance is not the be-all-end-all of it. Since leaving the show in 2014, he starred in films like 2015's "The Ridiculous 6," 2016's "The Last Film Festival," 2017's "Walk of Fame" and "Sharknado 5: Global Swarming," 2019's "The Soviet Sleep Experiment" (pictured above), and 2020's "Guest House." He also had a leading voice role on the Cartoon Network (and later Boomerang) animated series "Bunnicula," as well as subsequent voice roles on "Voltron: Legendary Defender," "Beebo Saves Christmas," "The Cuphead Show!," and the 2023 Netflix animated film "Leo." His most recent live-action appearance was as himself on the third American season of "Celebrity Big Brother" on CBS, which he quit on day 15.

Sue's once-boyfriend and later inseparable best friend, who eventually comes out as gay to her when they're both taking their first steps into grown-up life, is Brad Bottig. Brad is a major recurring player on "The Middle," and, much like Nancy Donohue, also appears on every season, with seasons 4 through 6 and then season 9 giving him particular prominence.

Brad was played by American actor and Colorado native Brock Ciarlelli. After his lengthy "The Middle" run, which he started as a teenager and continued on well into adulthood, Ciarlelli continued his acting career with a role in the 2018 short film "Home Entertainment," and he was part of the would-be series regular cast on the canceled "The Middle" spin-off "Sue Sue in the City," which never got off the ground. Later, in 2022, Ciarlelli had a small role as Steve in the Billy Eichner-led romcom "Bros," followed by guest spots on Netflix's "Glamorous" in 2023 and ABC's "Doctor Odyssey" (pictured above) in 2024.

The most prominent "The Middle" character aside from the Hecks themselves is Sean Donohue, who, in addition to being Axl's best friend from high school into their 20s (and the smartest and most level-headed member of Axl's friend trio), becomes Sue's boyfriend in the latter part of the show, and is revealed to have gone on to marry her (after two breakups) on the series finale.

Sean is played by Beau Wirick, who had roles on "Arrested Development," "The Office," "Drake & Josh," and "The Bernie Mac Show" prior to "The Middle." After appearing in a recurring capacity on all nine seasons as Sean Donohue, Wirick went on to play Allan Park on a single episode of FX's multi-Emmy-winning "The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story." Then, as previously mentioned, he starred alongside his "The Middle" co-star and eventual real-life wife Daniela Bobadilla in 2023's made-for-TV "The Happy Camper" (seen above), which was followed by a supporting role in the 2024 Christian drama film "Unsung Hero."

The youngest and most neglected Heck child is Brick Heck. Neurodivergent but never given a clear real-life diagnosis on the show, Brick is an avid reader, has an eidetic memory, and excels at anything that piques his interest, yet he has trouble focusing on mundane tasks, constantly forgets about his responsibilities, and finds it difficult to socialize due to his various tics. While Sue and Axl graduate high school and start college over the course of the show, Brick's arc finds him maturing into a more responsible teenager, and eventually becoming arguably the most well-adjusted member of the Heck household.

Like the rest of the main cast, Brick appeared on all 215 episodes of "The Middle," and, on each of them, he was played by Atticus Shaffer. Since the end of "The Middle," Shaffer starred in the 2018 Christmas comedy "I'll Be Next Door For Christmas," and had a single-episode role on the Netflix teen dramedy "Never Have I Ever" (seen above). He has become especially prolific as a voice actor, with roles on animated series like "Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh," "Star vs. the Forces of Evil," "The Lion Guard," "Harvey Girls Forever!," "Pete the Cat," and "Firebuds." Shaffer has also been regularly updating his YouTube channel with vlogs since 2018, and has been a popular Twitch streamer since 2019.

Axl Heck, the eldest child of the Heck family, was a football player, amateur guitarist, serial dater, and inveterate slacker during his high school years, but left for East Indiana State University halfway through the series and eventually managed to grow into a functional adult.

Axl appears on all 215 "The Middle" episodes — including his entire run after moving out, during which the show dove into the East Indiana State milieu instead of sidelining him — and is played by Charlie McDermott. Acclaimed early on in his career for his role in the 2008 indie drama "Frozen River," McDermott continued to have significant film and TV roles for a few years post-"The Middle." 

In 2018, he had a supporting role in the Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne-starring family comedy "Instant Family," which was followed by another supporting role in the 2019 horror film "Countdown." The same year, he recurred on the acclaimed Netflix miniseries "Unbelievable" as at-risk youth counselor Ty (seen above). Additionally, McDermott is the co-director (alongside Sara Rejaie) and co-writer of the upcoming drama film "Rhubarb," in which he will star alongside Kirsten Dunst. He has also released two folk music albums.

It was impossible not to root for Sue Sue Heck, difficult as the universe (and her own decisions, more often than not) made it. The Hecks' middle child and only daughter, Sue was an irrepressible go-getter who was always on the lookout for a new interest, ambition, or idea to pursue with the dogged dedication of a star in her own story, no matter how often her plans backfired.

Every actor in the main cast of "The Middle" was a superstar in their own way, but, if anyone were to be singled out as the ensemble breakout, it would have to be Eden Sher. Nominated for numerous awards for her work as Sue (winning the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2012), Sher also voiced protagonist Star Butterfly on Disney Channel and Disney XD's "Star vs. the Forces of Evil" between 2015 and 2019. She also had a recurring role as PJ Fields on the fifth and final season of The CW's "Jane the Virgin" in 2019, guest-starred on several TV series like "How I Met Your Father" (seen above) and the reboot of "Night Court." Since 2023, she began touring the one-woman stage show "Eden Sher: I Was On a Sitcom," in which she offers a humorous and intimate chronicle of her own life experiences.

The emotionally aloof but deeply caring father of the Heck children and husband to Frankie is Michael Bartholomew "Mike" Heck Jr. The manager of the Orson limestone quarry, Mike tends to both professional and domestic matters with the same mix of stringent pragmatism and quiet dedication, and is more often than not the rock-solid foundation holding the Heck family together — when his stoicism and social obliviousness aren't the causes of his family's anguish.

Mike is played on all 215 "The Middle" episodes by Neil Flynn, who rose to prominence as the Janitor on "Scrubs." After "The Middle," he voiced Jonathan Kent in the 2020 animated film "Superman: Man of Tomorrow," and had a supporting role in the 2022 film "5-25-77." On TV, he was part of the main cast of NBC's "Abby's" in 2019, had one-off voice roles on "Chicago Party Aunt," "Clone High," and "The Santa Clauses," guest starred on "Lopez vs Lopez" as a father-daughter duo alongside Eden Sher, and took on a recurring role on Apple TV+'s Emmy-nominated dramedy "Shrinking" (seen above).

Anxious, chaotic, sometimes overwhelmed, but always perseverant, Frankie Heck is the engine of the Heck family, as well as the narrator and de-facto protagonist and point-of-view character of "The Middle." The inner conflict between her desire for an unreachable idealized life and her determination to make the best of the life she's got is the driving force behind a lot of the show's comedy and narrative momentum (or lack thereof).

Frankie is played by Patricia Heaton, who starred for nine seasons and won numerous awards for her performance as Debra Barone on CBS' "Everybody Loves Raymond" (a show that, per Ray Romano, will never get a revival). She starred on "The Middle" for exactly five more episodes than "Raymond," thus making the ABC show her longest career commitment by a hair. She has done a lot of film work in the years since "The Middle," including roles in 2018's "Smallfoot," 2022's "Mending the Line," 2024's "The Beldham," and 2025's "The Unbreakable Boy" and "The Ritual." On TV, she briefly starred as Dr. Carol Kenney on the CBS sitcom "Carol's Second Act" (seen above), and had a recurring role as Holly on the 2023 "Frasier" reboot.