Sean Giambrone on Saying Goodbye to ‘The Goldbergs’ [Interview]

Sean Giambrone was 13 years old when he filmed the pilot episode of The Goldbergs. Now, as the show ends with its 10th season, he’s 23. 

I recently had the chance to speak with Giambrone about his time on The Goldbergs, how it feels to see the show end, and what we can expect from the series finale.  

Giambrone said the final weeks of filming The Goldbergs felt like the show could be ending, even though at the time, they didn’t know for sure that would be the case. 

“Everyone was taking a moment and really cherishing those last couple days of filming. And just hearing everyone getting wrapped out of the season, — that was wild. Watching Barry and the JTP signing off, it definitely got emotional at the end,” he said.

“I think we found out just right before our wrap party, so we knew for certain then. And so everyone just had a really nice time at the wrap party just saying goodbye and sharing contact information and everything.”

Essentially growing up on the series meant Giambrone learned a lot over the years on the set of The Goldbergs. “Time really has changed quite a bit since we started, but it doesn’t feel that long ago,” Giambrone said.

“I was surrounded by just a really generous, nice, creative group, from the writers, to the actors, to the directors. So they were giving me pointers and [I was] just learning by watching them with some of the more acting stuff.”

He added that he learned a lot of life lessons too. “For a while there, it really felt like I was just surrounded by hundreds of brothers and sisters with all the crew members,” he shared.

“One of the guys taught me how to surf, Howie the boom operator, and he’s a semi-pro surfer, and he was like, ‘I’ll take you out. And then he kind of got scared, like ‘If you would’ve gotten hurt, that was bad news!’ So we didn’t go again. But we went that one time.”

Giambrone said the producers on the show made sure he had everything he needed to keep up with his schooling as well. 

“I actually stayed within the curriculum of my high school back in Park Ridge in the Chicagoland area,” he explained. “They just sent me the curriculum and then I had a tutor on set. That was a lot of fun because they were kind of my closest friends. They called themselves the Sean-tourage,” he laughed. 

“Then I got to graduate back in Park Ridge after four years of doing that — and with my whole class. And it was just a really special thing that both the show and my school and my teachers made that happen,” Giambrone continued. “I really appreciate that because that was really important to me.”

Giambrone also recalled his first day on set, and the one blunder he made when it came to preparation.

“One thing that cracked me up is I didn’t think about memorizing my lines,” he said. “Because I had done some commercials before and I had almost learned them while we were doing them. And I think at that age, for some reason, the lines could click that fast for me.”

“But I came in and it was all these pages. There were a couple more pages than I’m used to. And I was sitting in the trailer, I’m like, ‘I bet that I need to have these memorized,” he continued.

“So I started cramming it in while doing hair and makeup. And then I felt like I just barely squeezed by that day.” 

“They had already started filming. Because at that time, I could only work a certain number of hours. So to protect the timetables or whatever, they brought me in a little later. Everyone else had started and they’d already done some family photos,” he recalled.

“I kind of saw them acting and it really started hitting me, ‘Wow.’ I recognized these faces. I watched them in movies and TV. So I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know if I belong here.'”

But then he quickly learned how welcoming everyone was in the cast.

“The first scene was when George was pulling up in that Firebird, and Barry does the Barry run for the first time,” Giambrone said. “I remember Jeff and Wendy, they were kind of goofing around from the get-go.”

“That day really flew by fast. It felt like my eyes and ears were really wide open, just to figure out what was exactly going on. But it was a lot of fun.”

As for what we can expect from The Goldbergs series finale, which airs Wednesday, May 3rd, Giambrone thinks fans will be satisfied with the ending. He said the title of the finale episode itself, “Bev to the Future,” gives the audience a hint about what to expect.

“One of the best ways for The Goldbergs to go out is to have an homage episode,” Giambrone said. “A lot of our strongest episodes have been those. And so we’re doing a Back to the Future.”

“There’s been a comic dynamic between Beverly and Adam throughout the series, of getting in the way of romance or smothering or something. And there might be a reversal going on in this episode, which seems only right that that could happen,” he continued.

“Then there’s shockers. I feel like there’s some really surprising stuff that goes on in the other storyline. So yeah, it’ll be fun,” Giambrone hinted. “There’s stuff for each character going on, and it kind of gives you enough to go off of to guess what might happen.”

“You’ll kind of see the trajectory that each character’s headed. So it’s a nice ending.”

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The Goldbergs Series Finale airs Wednesday, May 3rd at 8:30/7:30c on ABC.

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