Andi Mack was, for a time, the top-rated series on cable television among children ages 6–14. It is the first series on Disney Channel to feature a gay main character, Cyrus Goodman, a distinction that has drawn considerable media attention and was reported in the news as being historic. The series has been nominated for and won awards for his coming out storyline, the introduction of which caused a ratings surge.
Plot
Season 1
On the night of her thirteenth birthday, Andi Mack's world is turned upside down when she discovers that the woman she believed to be her sister, Bex, is actually her mother. Andi joins her middle school frisbee team to get close to Jonah, whom both she and her best friend Cyrus are developing romantic feelings for, while also competing with Jonah's high school girlfriend Amber. Andi reveals her family revelation to her best friends, Cyrus and Buffy, and begins to embrace her mother Bex and bond with her newfound father Bowie.
Season 2
Andi tries to convince her parents, Bex and Bowie, to marry each other, but neither proposal is successful. Jonah breaks up with Amber. Cyrus comes out to Buffy. Buffy joins the basketball team and is later asked by her math teacher to tutor the team captain, TJ; when TJ becomes ineligible to be on the team due to his math grades, Cyrus gives him advice about his learning disability to allow him to play. Cyrus comes out to Andi. Andi and Jonah enter into a relationship. Buffy seemingly moves far away, but it is later revealed that she still lives nearby. Bex competes with a town local, Miranda, for Bowie's affection, while conflict ensues between Andi and Miranda's daughter Morgan, which eventually leads Bowie to criticize Miranda for causing him to distrust his daughter Andi; Bex and Bowie rekindle their relationship.
Season 3
Bex and Bowie are engaged. Andi tells Jonah that she would like to just be friends with him, to which he agrees. Buffy is dating Walker, which makes Andi uncomfortable. Cyrus joins TJ and his two friends Reed and Lester on a dirt biking adventure, but when Cyrus discovers that Reed has a gun, he tells Principal Metcalf and is later questioned about it by a police officer after TJ reported the incident to the police. Buffy attempts to improve the girls' basketball team, but they are crushed by their opponents in their first game. Cyrus comes out to Jonah. Costume Day is held at Jefferson Middle School. Bex cancels her planned wedding to Bowie. Andi, Cyrus, Buffy, and Jonah are arrested for giving out a company's thrown away clothes for free without the owner's permission. Buffy gets a foot injury which causes her to sit out her team's games for the rest of the season. Andi's art project to combat stereotypes gets a lot of attention, leading her to apply and get accepted to a magnet school for visual arts. Bex plans a surprise wedding for her and Bowie. Marty's girlfriend breaks up with him because of his feelings for Buffy. After denying their feelings for each other, Buffy and Marty eventually admit to liking each other. When Buffy kicks Kira out of her basketball team, Kira befriends TJ to get back at Buffy by hurting Cyrus. Eventually, TJ stands up to Kira, after which he and Cyrus acknowledge their feelings for each other by holding hands.
Sofia Wylie as Buffy Driscoll,[1] a seventh grade student at Jefferson Middle School, best friend of Andi, and captain of the Jefferson Middle School girls' basketball team
Asher Angel as Jonah Beck,[1] an eighth grade student at Jefferson Middle School, Andi's ex-boyfriend, and captain of the Jefferson Middle School frisbee team
Lilan Bowden as Rebecca "Bex" Mack,[1] Andi's mother; previously believed by Andi to be her sister
Lauren Tom as Celia Mack,[1] Andi's grandmother; previously believed by Andi to be her mother
Trent Garrett as Bowie[a] Quinn[1] (recurring, seasons 1–2; main, season 3), Andi's father; previously unknown to Andi
Recurring
Stoney Westmoreland as Henry "Ham" Mack,[1][b] Andi's grandfather; previously believed by Andi to be her father
Emily Skinner as Amber, a ninth grade high school student, Jonah's ex-girlfriend, and waitress at The Spoon diner
Chelsea T. Zhang as Brittany (seasons 1–2), a close friend of Bex and her employer
Garren Stitt as Marty, a student at Jefferson Middle School and a member of the Jefferson Middle School track team
Luke Mullen as TJ (seasons 2–3), the captain of the Jefferson Middle School boys' basketball team who has dyscalculia and is Cyrus' love interest; his full name is revealed to be Thelonious Jagger Kippen in "We Were Here"
Chloe Hurst as Miranda (seasons 2–3), a woman who works at a plant nursery with Bowie and goes out with him for a time
Darius Marcell as Walker (seasons 2–3), a young artist who first meets Andi at Cyrus’ bar mitzvah as the hired caricature artist
Raquel Justice as Kira (season 3), a transfer student and talented basketball player who clashes with Buffy and tries to get between Cyrus and TJ
Production
Development of the series began in 2015 when Disney Channels Worldwide president Gary Marsh convinced writer and producer Terri Minsky to consider developing another series for Disney Channel. Minsky had created the popular sitcom Lizzie McGuire, which aired from 2001 to 2004, but was initially reluctant to create another teen-oriented series. Minsky eventually found inspiration for the series in an article on how actor Jack Nicholson had learned as an adult that the woman he believed to be his sister was actually his mother.[2] Disney Channel ordered a pilot based on the concept in November 2015,[3] and subsequently ordered Andi Mack to series in August 2016.[4][5] The series started filming in Salt Lake City in September 2016,[6] and finished filming in December 2016.[7]
The first episode became available on the Disney Channel App, On-Demand, Disney Channel's YouTube, iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play on March 10, 2017, while the second episode became available the same day via Disney Channel On-Demand as well as to subscribers using the Disney Channel App.[8] The series premiered on Disney Channel on April 7, 2017.[8] A total of 13 episodes were ordered for the first season;[9] however, only 12 episodes were aired.
Disney Channel renewed the series for a second season on May 25, 2017.[10] The filming of the second season began in July 2017.[11]
On August 20, 2017, five additional episodes were ordered for the second season.[12] One week prior to the season two premiere, a music video for the full version of the series' theme song was released, starring the entire cast.[13] On October 25, 2017, TVLine revealed that in the second season, Cyrus would begin to realize that he has romantic feelings for Jonah, following through from several hints in the first season, making him the first gay main character with a coming out storyline[c] on Disney Channel.[14] The second season premiered on Disney Channel on October 27, 2017.
On February 19, 2018, Disney Channel announced that Andi Mack had been renewed for a third season, with the cast informed about the renewal live on Good Morning America by the creator that day.[15] The third season premiered on October 8, 2018.[16] On November 13, 2018, Deadline Hollywood reported that the series would be featuring a two-episode arc—"Cookie Monster" and "The New Girls"—revolving around gun safety and peer pressure.[17] On December 14, 2018, Deadline Hollywood reported that Stoney Westmoreland was fired by Disney Channel because of his arrest by the Salt Lake City Police Department on charges of "enticing a minor" and "dealing in materials harmful to a minor",[18] with scenes from episodes yet to air that would have featured him removed.[19]
On April 24, 2019, it was announced that Andi Mack would end after its third season and the series finale would premiere on July 26, 2019.[20]
Reception
Critical
The series has been praised for accurately representing the lives of young teenagers, with examples including a learning disability, panic attacks, a bar mitzvah, and the unplanned pregnancy of the mother of the title character.[21] It has also been praised for normalizing the Asian-American experience as being diverse and multi-dimensional, and therefore normalizing diversity.[22] It is the first series on Disney Channel to feature a gay main character, Cyrus Goodman, a distinction which has drawn considerable media attention and was reported in the news as being historic and groundbreaking.[23][24]Andi Mack became the first series on Disney Channel in which a character has used the phrase "I'm gay", which occurs when Cyrus comes out to Jonah in "One in a Minyan".[25]
Ratings
The series is the top-rated series on cable television among all children ages 6–14.[17][needs update] The introduction of the coming out storyline caused the series to experience a ratings surge.[26]
The series is the first on Disney Channel to feature a coming out storyline, for which it has been nominated for and won awards, including the 2018 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Kids & Family Programming and the 2018 Academy of Television Arts & Sciences award for Television with a Conscience.
^Bowie's real first name is revealed to be Steven in "Cookie Monster".
^Ham's last appearance is in "The New Girls", following Stoney Westmoreland's termination from the series and Disney Channel on December 14, 2018
^British series The Lodge was the first Disney Channel series to feature a coming out scene with Josh (Joshua Sinclair-Evans) mentioning that girls are not his type.
