Tim Allen likens 'Last Man Standing' finale to 'Home Improvement': 'Twice as humbled'

Tim Allen never anticipated that he'd be able to unofficially carry on the Home Improvement legacy, but now that he has done nine seasons of the similarly modeled Last Man Standing, the 67-year-old actor is doubly appreciative and reflective.

Fox's Last Man Standing, in which Allen plays gruff patriarch Mike Baxter, will air its series finale May 20. Entertainment Weekly caught up with Allen for an interview published Thursday (April 29), including first-look photos of the last two episodes ("Baxter Boot Camp," "Keep on Truckin'"), and the Golden Globe winner likened saying goodbye to how he left Home Improvement in 1999:

"I sat in every room on that set, but I did that on Home Improvement also. I'm just one of those guys," he recalls. "Earl Hindman (who played faceless neighbor Wilson) and I would go backstage and we'd say, 'I'm always going to love this.' I still remember where that was all these years later. I honored it. I was grateful for it. And I'm humbled that I had the chance to do Home Improvement, and now twice as humbled to have done Last Man Standing for two years longer. I went from being a club road comic to achieving all of this. I really love this family, even with the cast changes we had throughout the series. The growth of this family was amazing." Last time in my “Baxter” den. pic.twitter.com/HNEfofhV3y