Tim Allen‘s hit ABC sitcom Shifting Gears has allowed him to bring in numerous former cast members from Home Improvement.
Before playing a widower on Shifting Gears, Allen got his sitcom start on the latter show, which ran from 1991 to 1999 and also starred Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Patricia Richardson, Taran Noah Smith, Zachery Ty Bryan, Richard Karn and Debbe Dunning.
Allen continued to find success playing Mike Baxter in Last Man Standing from 2011 to 2021 before returning to TV alongside onscreen daughter Kat Dennings. While speaking exclusively to Us Weekly in January 2025, Allen weighed in on the possibility of reuniting with his former costars.
“Everything is a possibility,” he shared before addressing a possible appearance from Thomas after he took a step back from the spotlight. “He just came back [to the last episode we filmed]. He showed up on the set.”
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Allen said he would love nothing more than to share the screen with Thomas again. “He’s literally my kid. I raised that kid for eight years on Home Improvement,” he added. “All of these are my kids, and I’m kind of sick about this.”
At the time, Allen recalled the close bonds he formed with his onscreen kids throughout the years.
“[My former onscreen wife] Nancy Travis once told me [something] after I called her during Last Man Standing. I said, ‘Have you talked to the girls [who play our daughters] over the summer?’ Then there’s this long pause and she goes, ‘Tim, these aren’t our daughters and I’m not actually your wife,’” he quipped. “She was so wonderful about it because sometimes when they were having trouble on the show, I’d go, ‘How do you think they feel?’ And she would respond, ‘Tim, they’re actors. We just read [what is on the page but] she’s not really that sad.’”
As Shifting Gears continues to expand with a second season, keep scrolling to see which Home Improvement stars have already signed on to make guest appearances:
Jay Leno
The late night talk show host played himself on Home Improvement — a role he reprised in season 1 of Shifting Gears. (Leno was also on several seasons of Last Man Standing but as a fictional character.)
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Patricia Richardson
First look images at season 2 of Shifting Gears revealed that Richardson would be sharing the screen with Allen’s Last Man Standing sitcom wife. After playing Allen’s wife on Home Improvement, Richardson reunited with him on several episodes of Last Man Standing. Richardson’s cameo even featured a nod to her Home Improvement character when her onscreen son was played by fellow Home Improvement alum Thomas.
Richard Karn
Karn, who played Al Borland on Home Improvement, was another former costar that appeared on Last Man Standing. He will join Allen, Richardson and Dunning in the season 2 premiere of Shifting Gears.
Debbe Dunning
After playing Heidi on Home Improvement, Dunning, Richardson and Karn support Allen’s character, Matt, in an “unexpected way.”
