Life After Orson: Where Are ‘The Middle’s’ Beloved Hecks Now? Get the Latest on Your Favorite Dysfunctional Family!
See where Frankie, Mike and the Heck kids ventured off to after the series came to an end in 2018
The cast of ‘The Middle’ Richard Foreman / © ABC / Courtesy: Everett Collection
For any sitcom fans out there, you were probably tuning into The Middle weekly from 2009 to 2018. The show follows the dysfunctional lives of the Hecks — a middle-class, middle-America family — from the fictional town of Orson, Indiana.
In the show, working-class parents Frankie and Mike Heck struggle to make ends meet, frequently shopping at the Frugal Hoosier, a discount food store that sells expired items, and eating fast-food takeout most nights. Frankie works her day job at a car dealership, where she can’t seem to sell a car or get a raise, while her husband manages a quarry.
The cast of ‘The Middle’Michael Ansell / ©ABC / courtesy Everett Collection
Together, the couple has three kids: the athletic but lazy Axl, the cheerful, optimistic Sue, and the quirky, often forgotten Brick. Though they have their own special qualities, the Heck siblings emulate a typical family: Axl often teases his younger sister, and Sue, the middle sibling, looks for the bright side in everything. Brick, the youngest brother, often keeps to himself (and his books).
Though the series came to an end in 2018, the Heck family lives on with its fans. The Middle cast, which was full of stellar actors, has gone on to do great things after their time on the show.
Patricia Heaton as Frankie Heck
2009/2025Brian To / Contributor // Roy Rochlin / Contributor
Everybody knows and loves Patricia Heaton as Debra Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond, but she also perfectly portrayed her role as Frankie Heck in The Middle. The overworked, overly stressed mother of three serves as the narrator for almost every episode of the series. Though she can often come off a tad overbearing to her children, Heaton’s character is a loving mother, willing to do almost anything for them.
While the actress has played a mom on-screen twice, as Frankie and Debra, she is also playing the role in real life. Heaton said, “So much of what Frankie Heck went through on The Middle was paralleling exactly what I was going through with my kids, filling out college applications, your kids looking for work.” For future roles, she explained, “I would like to play something different.”
But in 2018, when the series came to an end, Heaton continued creating characters we adore. She voiced the character of Mama Bear in the movie, Smallfoot (2018), part of a star-studded cast which included Channing Tatum, Zendaya, Danny DeVito and James Corden.
In 2019, Heaton reentered the sitcom world in her new series, Carol’s Second Act, portraying a retired schoolteacher who starts a second career as a doctor. Unfortunately, the series was canceled after just one season in 2020. Two years later, she starred in Mending the Line (2022).
Most recently, Heaton appeared in projects including The Beldham (2024), three episodes of Frasier (2024), The Unbreakable Boy (2025) and the horror film, The Ritual (2025).
Neil Flynn as Mike Heck
2009/2023Heather Holt / Contributor // Hollywood To You/Star Max / Contributor
The hilariously stoic character of Mike Heck is portrayed by none other than Neil Flynn. Mike tends to keep to himself and hardly ever smiles, but audiences start to see his soft side throughout the series. Oftentimes, the character only focuses on his oldest son, Axl, because of their shared love of football, but as he opens up over the years, you can clearly see the love he has for his other children.
His lack of emotion is a significant plot point for the series, as is his love for wearing flannel shirts every day. But despite all his flaws, Mike Heck is a hard-working father who cares for and supports his family.
Flynn, who was previously cast as the janitor on Scrubs (2001), was grateful for more of a major role on the sitcom, commenting, “With a bigger part comes many, many more hours at work. But I was 100 percent happy to be there; I welcomed the weightier part.”
Since his time as Mike Heck ended, Flynn has made a splash in the television world. He has done multiple voice-acting projects, including Superman: Man of Tomorrow (2020), Clone High (2023) and The Santa Clauses (2023). In 2019, Flynn starred in the sitcom Abby’s, but the series was canceled after just one season.
Flynn starred in the movie Unexpected in 2023, but has mostly made guest appearances on TV shows, including Girls5eva (2022), PBC (2022) and Shrinking (2023).
Charlie McDermott as Axl Heck
2009/2017Kurt Krieger – Corbis / Contributor // Paul Archuleta / Contributor
Charlie McDermott takes on the role of the classic older brother as Axl Heck. He’s a big-time athlete in high school, makes jokes at his sister’s expense (often referring to her as a dog), doesn’t clean up after himself and lounges around in nothing but his underwear.
Though it’s hard to imagine The Middle cast without McDermott, he almost didn’t make the cut. When he first auditioned, the series wasn’t picked up for about a year, but at that point the role was up for grabs again., McDermott said, “The audition came back again and it was the exact same audition sides [sample script pages] except the character name was scratched out and it said Axl instead of Elvis.”
Axl grows up a lot by the end of the series, caring for his family and offering advice to his siblings. When his sister attends the same college as him, despite his resistance, Axl takes it upon himself to make sure she is as comfortable as possible.
Unlike his character, who loves attention, McDermott hasn’t been in the spotlight all too much since the series ended. He had a very small part in the Mark Wahlberg movie, Instant Family (2018). Then in 2019, McDermott had a small arc in the mini-series, Unbelievable. The same year, he appeared in the movie Countdown. He is cast in an upcoming project titled Rhubarb, but no release date is known.
McDermott has also been busy releasing his own music since his time in The Middle cast. He issued an album in 2020 titled Some Things Just Fall Out of Your Hands and a 2022 EP titled Blind Warm Light. McDermott got married in 2017 but keeps his relationship very private.
Eden Sher as Sue Heck
2009/2025Jeffrey Mayer / Contributor // John Sciulli / Stringer
Sue Sue Heck (which is how her name appears on her birth certificate due to a mistake made by her parents) is equivalent to a ray of sunshine. She has inspiring animal posters hung on her walls, she wears bright colors and patterns (that usually don’t match) and she never quits at anything. Eden Sher perfectly portrays the dorky, yet adorable teen.
Because she is often forgotten by her classmates and teachers, Sue has dozens of other names throughout the series. Some are sweet nicknames, like Suzy Q, courtesy of her neighbor and future husband, Sean Donahue (Beau Wirick). But many others are because nobody can seem to remember her name, so she’s credited as Ana Hajarajanaan in the yearbook.
But like her character, who tries many different activities, Eden Sher has been cast in a variety of projects. Since The Middle came to an end, she’s continued her series regular role on Star vs. the Forces of Evil (2019).
Sher also appeared in a small part on the series Jane the Virgin (2019), and in 2022 voiced a character in a video game, High on Life. She also appeared on How I Met Your Father (2023) and Chibiverse (2024).
Sher married her husband, Nick Cron-Devico in 2020, and the couple welcomed twin daughters in 2021.
Atticus Shaffer as Brick Heck
2009/2018Steve Granitz / Contributor // Paul Archuleta / Contributor
The often-forgotten youngest child, Brick, who is more concerned with his books than the world around him, is portrayed by Atticus Shaffer. In fact, he’s so forgotten that Brick was even switched at birth, but switched back a month later. He has his own designated “Brick chair,” which is simply a lawn chair, because there weren’t enough regular dining room seats to accommodate him.
Brick has many weird quirks — such as his need to whisper certain words after he says them or when he says “whoop” in the middle of a sentence. But despite his special qualities, Brick is one of the most hilarious characters in The Middle cast.
Atticus Shaffer has done a wide array of projects since his time on the series ended. The actor was in the 2018 movie, I’ll Be Next Door for Christmas. He was also in the middle (pun intended) of his own series, The Lion Guard (2019), where he voiced the character Ono.
Shaffer also had an arc in the series Harvey Girls Forever! (2020), Never Have I Ever (2020) and Adventures in Odyssey (2020). He even booked another series in 2017, titled Pete the Cat, where he remained until 2022.
Dolly Parton during 38th Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Ceremony – Show at Marriott Marquis in New York City, New York, United States (Stephen Lovekin/WireImage for Songwriter’s Hall of Fame)
American musicians Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton perform a duet at the Rosemont Horizon (later renamed the Allstate Arena), Rosemont, Illinois, on March 30, 1986 (Paul Natkin/Getty Images)
Dolly Parton attends the Dolly! All Access Pop-Up Store Preview & Press Conference at The Star in Frisco on May 9, 2023, in Frisco, Texas (Sam Hodde/Getty Images for ABA)
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