The actor’s former co-star stopped by the set of his new show for a heartwarming reunion.

Tim Allen on ‘Shifting Gears’Disney/Raymond Liu

Key Points

Kaitlyn Dever surprised Tim Allen on the set of his new sitcom, Shifting Gears.
The reunion delighted fans, prompting cheers and heartfelt social media reactions.
Allen frequently welcomes former co-stars as guest stars on Shifting Gears.

Tim Allen’s fictional worlds collided when Kaitlyn Dever visited the set of Shifting Gears.

The ABC sitcom’s official Instagram account posted a video of the actress, 28, standing in the soundstage kitchen waiting for Allen, 72, to receive his cue to enter from the crew. When he realized Dever—who played his character Mike Baxter’s daughter Eve on Last Man Standing for nine seasons from 2011 to 2021—was there, Allen bent over in surprise and laughed before walking over to hug her.

Allen’s Shifting Gears co-star Kat Dennings—who has portrayed his character Matt Parker’s daughter, Riley, for two seasons since the show’s January premiere—then ran up to give Dever a hug too.

The studio audience cheered for the unexpected reunion as Allen and Dever embraced several more times before she exited the stage.

“Some behind the scenes love for you: the best surprise,” the Instagram post’s caption read. “Thanks for stopping by @kaitlyndever!”

In the comments section, fans were just as excited as Allen.

“The only cameos we really want are from the Tim Allen multiverse,” one person wrote, while another replied, “He said damn that my other daughter.”

A third fan commented, “Love this!! They made a great father/daughter, partners-in-crime team on LMS.”

“Those girls probably became like daughters to Tim,” another person responded. “He couldn’t stop hugging her.”

Allen previously gushed over his reunion with Dever in an October X post, captioning a photo of the pair with their arms wrapped around one another, “Kaitlyn Dever stopped by my taping tonite [sic] at Shifting Gears. Such a lucky man. Truly blessed to have worked and loved so many of my cast.”

Allen and Dever starred alongside Nancy Travis (Vanessa Baxter), Alexandra Krosney/Amanda Fuller (Kristin Baxter-Vogelson), Molly Ephraim/Molly McCook (Mandy Baxter-Anderson), Christoph Sanders (Kyle Anderson) and Héctor Elizondo (Ed Alzate) on Last Man Standing. The sitcom originally aired on ABC for six seasons, but after being canceled by the network, it moved to Fox for its final three seasons. Dever was a series regular for the first six seasons and transitioned into a recurring role for seasons 7 through 9.

Allen has since moved on to Shifting Gears. In addition to Dennings, 39, the sitcom stars Seann William Scott (Gabriel), Daryl “Chill” Mitchell (Stitch), Maxwell Simkins (Carter) and Barrett Margolis (Georgia).

Since Shifting Gears began, several of Allen’s former castmates have guest-starred on the show, with his Last Man Standing wife, Travis, 64, appearing in two episodes and his Home Improvement co-stars Patricia Richardson, Richard Karn and Debbe Dunning making cameos in the season 2 premiere.