Playing Sue on The Middle, the sunniest member of the Heck family, was one helluva role for
actress Eden Sher.
But what has she been up to since the show ended in 2018?
It turns out she grew up and got super busy.
Soon after The Middle ended, a spin-off starring everyone's favorite put-upon middle child
was conceived and enthusiastically shopped around.
A concept was never fully ironed out, but reports suggested that the story would pick
up with Sue Heck not yet happily settled down with her dreamy boyfriend Sean, even though
a flash-forward in The Middle finale had suggested that she eventually would end up with him.
"That was like a happily ever after type of thing for like really far.
That's not like, Sue being Sue as a young adult."
The show was set to be called Sue Sue in the City and was going to take place in Chicago.
But in November 2018, Deadline reported that ABC had declined to pick it up to series.
Eileen Heisler and DeAnn Heline, who had previously created The Middle, were handling the project,
which had been ordered to pilot the previous August.
There were rumors that Sue Sue in the City might be shopped around to other networks
by Warner Bros. TV, but nothing has since materialized.
Although The Middle took up most of her young adult years, Eden Sher managed to find time
to write a book that her fictional alter ego would undoubtedly be proud of.
Released in 2016 and entitled The Emotionary: A Dictionary of Words That Don't Exist for
Feelings That Do, it was a self-help tome of sorts infused with the actress' indomitable
wit and sunny outlook on life.
In an interview with Vulture, she gushed,
"There's nothing better than when people turn to a page and say, 'I know exactly what that
is!'
And if it's paired with some kind of chuckle, my heart just swells and it feels like I'm
not alone.
The book was so self-serving, it was so just that I could get validation from anyone and
everyone."
Regarding her inspiration for putting her thoughts onto the page, Sher told Talk Nerdy
with Us,
"I decided to capitalize on my emotional self-indulgence, and I didn't know it was going to be a book.
I just had to get it out.
Then I thought it was funny because I would just hit it with puns and funny things.
Honestly, I think it spawned from all the feelings.
Then I just thought of a title and said, 'it's a book!'"
"I think if you just slow down a little bit and took care of yourself, then things wouldn't
have to build up and burst all at once."
After a career-defining, long-running small screen performance, plenty of actors would
want to branch out and explore other mediums, but Eden Sher has remained a TV stalwart.
She's popped up on a few high-profile shows, including a recurring role on the fifth and
final season of Jane the Virgin.
She played PJ, an assistant with a significant connection to Brooke Shields' character River
Fields.
She also showed up on a 2018 episode of the NBC sitcom Superstore, as a potential employee
for the Cloud 9 big-box store whose enthusiastic personality wasn't too far removed from Sue
Heck's.
"The thing you have to understand about me is, I have a great sense of humor."
Speaking to Vulture, Sher acknowledged that she should perhaps be expressing an interest
in branching out into movies, though she noted,
"In my gut, I want to do another series.
I would love to play a role that's not Sue and I would love to play a role that isn't
a teenager...It doesn't have to be a network show for me, though.
It could be edgier!
I could be more creatively involved!
Maybe I could write!"
In March 2019, Sher took to Instagram to excitedly announce her engagement to her longtime boyfriend,
comedian Nick Cron-DeVico.
Along with a slideshow of sweet shots from throughout their relationship, the actress
cleverly broke down their romance by numbers, writing,
"It's been more than 4 years, we've been to 4 countries, lived in 2 houses, have 2 dogs,
been REAL BORED in 12 airports, gotten fancy 100+ times, taken 58 photo booths, have collectively
1 Emmy, and now @nickcrondevico and I get to spend THE REST OF ETERNITY DOING MORE OF
ALL OF IT.
V EXCITING NEWS GUYS."
Cron-Devico, who's also a screenwriter who's worked on the long-running Adult Swim series
Robot Chicken, also took to Instagram to share the happy news.
As he declared,
"A few nights ago I got engaged to the coolest person I know.
Can't wait to spend the rest of our lives growing up together.
It's been an amazing 4 years.
Here's to another 4!"
If you follow Eden Sher on social media, you know that she's a vocal and proud campaigner
for human rights.
She speaks out for such causes as better conditions for public school teachers, including her
own mother.
She discussed why she feels the need to be outspoken in a 2013 interview with Teen Vogue,
declaring,
"In the 50s and 70s, feminism was a way more accepted worldview to have than it is now.
Young women aren't identifying as feminists as much.
If more young girls were like, 'Yeah I'm a feminist!,' others would follow."
Sher is also proud of Sue Heck's feminist moments, as she recalled to Vulture,
"There's an episode where Sue gets really heated about everything and it sort of ends
with her breaking down, being overwhelmed by the number of causes there are in the world,
and being distraught over not being able to save everyone and everything...I like that
she was being aggressive and at the end it wasn't her realizing that she was wrong and
being annoying and that she needs to chill out.
I like that it was her being overwhelmed and 'I don't know what I can do right now.'
It hit very close to home."
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