If you hadn’t already heard, the Jonas Brothers are back in the spotlight with the release of their new album, Greetings from Your Hometown. While longtime fans show up to support the three-man boy-band, now is the perfect time to revisit some of the Jonas Brothers’ on-screen roles. We all remember their Jonas sitcom, but did you realize Nick Jonas played a one-time part in a highly popular ABC-turned-Fox sitcom starring Tim Allen back during its first season in 2011? If you haven’t seen it, any self-respecting Jonas Brothers fan ought to give the Last Man Standing episode “Last Christmas Standing” a try. The only downside? Jonas was replaced the following season.
Nick Jonas Was the Original Ryan in ‘Last Man Standing’s First Christmas Episode
If you haven’t seen Last Man Standing before, it was a sitcom that ran from 2011 to 2021, spanning nine seasons and two networks. Back when Nick Jonas guest starred on the show, the Tim Allen series was still going through some natural growing pains. When the show began, it was established that Mike Baxter’s (Allen) eldest daughter Kristen (played by Alexandra Krosney originally) got pregnant as a teenager with her son Boyd (Evan and Luke Kruntchev). The father? Out of the picture, at least until Nick Jonas appears as the baby daddy, Ryan Vogelson, just in time for the holidays. “Last Christmas Standing” was Last Man Standing‘s first shot at a holiday-themed episode, and it’s certainly a memorable one. Ryan returns to Denver wanting to make amends for abandoning his son and baby mama, although Mike is suspicious.
What’s even harder is that Kristen has moved on from Ryan and is now dating one of Mike’s employees, Kyle (Christoph Sanders), who feels so threatened by Ryan’s sudden return that he actually proposes. As Mike struggles to deal with Ryan, it’s clear that the absent father is trying to better himself, and be better for his child. Jonas’ performance here is your standard sitcom fare, but it’s the heartfelt holiday cheer of it all, mixed with religious notions of forgiveness and a retelling of the World War I Christmas truce of 1914, that really seals the deal. By the episode’s end, it seems that Ryan is set to return more often to see Boyd, though he appears to have moved on from their romance (much to Kyle’s appreciation). Despite that, Ryan doesn’t return for the remainder of the season, and Jonas isn’t seen on the show again, even after that final musical performance.
Season 2 of Tim Allen’s ‘Last Man Standing’ Was a Creative Overhaul
That’s right, Nick Jonas was not destined to continue with the ABC sitcom. Instead, Last Man Standing received a complete creative overhaul in Season 2. Ryan was brought back as a recurring cast member, but he was no longer played by Jonas. The role was given instead to Jordan Masterson, who would remain with the series through its completion, eventually graduating to main cast status by Season 4. With Season 2, both Ryan and Kristen (who was also recast, now played by Amanda Fuller) were aged-up from their late teens (indeed, Jonas was 19 when he played Ryan in Season 1) to their early 20s, and even Boyd was given a few extra years, played now by Flynn Morrison. The difference in the character’s age was never explained, but the writers took full advantage of the overhaul, further distancing Kristen and Kyle and, eventually, putting Boyd’s parents back together.
While it’s a shame that Nick Jonas (and Alexandra Krosney) didn’t continue with the show, Last Man Standing really found its voice in the second season with its new cast. In many ways, Fuller and Masterson essentially played new characters entirely, but they fit arguably better into the framework of the series itself. Ryan was continually portrayed as more “left-wing” politically, and he and Mike often found themselves on the opposing ends of heated arguments. But, at the end of the day, their love for Kristen and Boyd always mattered more than any political disagreements, and the two ended up bonding over time. It’s interesting to think about how this could have happened with Jonas’ version of Ryan, but it was a role much better suited for Masterson.
‘Last Man Standing’ Was Known for Recasting Major Characters
Somehow, this wasn’t the last time that Last Man Standing would recast its lead characters. After the Season 2 overhaul, the show kept course for several years until ABC announced that, despite the show’s impressive ratings, Last Man Standing was to be canceled after its sixth season. This was devastating to the cast, crew, and fans of the program, and Tim Allen and his team immediately began searching for a new television home. The following year, Fox took the show in, producing three more seasons. However, in that time, many of the show’s stars were forced to move on, including Molly Ephraim, Kaitlyn Dever, and Flynn Morrison, who played Mike’s other daughters, Mandy and Eve, and grandson, Boyd, respectively.
Because Mandy had married Kyle during the show’s original run, she couldn’t exactly be written off. Instead, the show recast her the same way Kristen had been between the first and second seasons. Molly McCook took over the part, and just like before, the show refused to acknowledge the obvious physical change (she looked even less like the original Mandy than Amanda Fuller did the original Kristen). Boyd, too, was recast, with Jet Jurgensmeyer taking over until the character was unceremoniously written off entirely. Only Dever continued on with the role past her character’s exit, as Eve went to college and returned on a semi-consistent basis throughout the show’s final three seasons.
He may not have known it at the time, but Nick Jonas helped start a trend on Last Man Standing where the show would continue to replace and recast actors for the health of the series. The same thing happened to Chuck Larabee’s (Jonathan Adams) wife, Carol, between the fifth and seventh seasons, with Tisha Campbell replacing Erika Alexander after several years as well. Nick Jonas played the part well in a guest capacity for what it was, but Jordan Masterson took the role and made it into something special.
Last Man Standing is available for streaming on Hulu in the U.S.
Last Man Standing
- Release Date
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2011 – 2020
- Showrunner
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Jack Burditt
- Directors
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Tim Allen
- Writers
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Jack Burditt
