It’s been awhile since he ventured onto our screens, but Jonathan Taylor Thomas will never go out of style in the eyes of his fans.
The 42-year-old left acting behind a good two decades ago, for the most part, but he’s graced our screens once or twice in the years since his retirement from fame. After spending much of the ’90s and early 2000s cementing himself as a teenage heartthrob, Thomas essentially ended his on-screen career in 2005. He polished off his projects at the time — which included the computer-animated Thru the Moebius Strip and his episode on Veronica Mars — and wandered off into the sunset. At least, that’s how his fans see it.
Thomas did return to acting once or twice in the years that followed, most notably to reunite with his longtime television dad, Tim Allen. Despite his apparent retirement from acting, it seems Thomas simply didn’t have what it takes to reject his longtime friend and mentor, which landed him a spot on ABC and Fox’s Last Man Standing.
When was Jonathan Taylor Thomas in Last Man Standing?
On of Thomas’ first-ever appearances was in Home Improvement, a popular Tim Allen sitcom that aired through the ’90s. Thomas played Randy, the middle child of the fictional Taylor family, across seven of the show’s eight seasons, bringing the playful, comedic, and charming character to wonderful life.
Thomas eventually departed the series after its seventh season, though he did make a brief return in season 8. He was on to bigger and better things, however — between his range of cinematic roles and several popular televised appearances — and it seems his former co-stars didn’t begrudge his exit one bit.
In fact, Allen invited him back — not to Home Improvement, which ended after that final eighth season, but to Last Man Standing, a fresh Tim Allen sitcom that debuted in 2011 and concluded in 2017. The series boasts a familiar family-centric vibe, but trades out Allen’s gaggle of boys for a gaggle of girls.
Thomas appeared in four separate episodes between 2013 and 2015, initially popping up in the season 2 finale and later returning three more times to once again share a set with his longtime TV dad. In his final appearance, this time in the twelfth episode of the fourth season, Thomas reprised his role as Randy Taylor and enjoyed the opportunity to reunite with his former on-screen parents one last time.