Marcel Spears is filled with immense gratitude as he bids farewell to The Neighborhood on CBS.

Eight seasons in the sitcom television landscape is no easy feat, especially for a show centered on the Black community and connection. For nearly a decade, Spears’ personal journey has intertwined with that of his character Marty.

“Marty’s journey into fatherhood is a direct mirror for my own journey into fatherhood,” he recalled in recent interview with us. “It’s really sentimental to talk about it and think about it, because they’ve sort of been happening parallel to each other, because our show is like a family. So once everybody found out that I was having a baby, the writers were inspired; they thought it was so funny the way that it happened. My girlfriend, who was not my wife at the time, went to labor while we were at a Beyoncé concert, so the writers were like, ‘Oh man, this is so good, please. Let’s use this.’ And so Marty’s journey into fatherhood has been really something that’s close to my heart.”

On the emotional state of Marty in the final episode

Spears notes that his character has grown more confident over the years, though he still feels he is navigating the unknown in some ways.

“He feels so much more sure of himself. I think the arc of Marty has been sort of this awkward, nerdy, sort of little bit insecure, as far as his social and romantic life, because he’s book smart, but not really street or emotionally smart. He had a lot to learn in that regard,” Spears said.

“By the time we end this series, Marty is a father and a husband. I think he has confidence in himself based on being raised by Calvin and watching his dad and his mom, their relationship, and the life that they’ve been able to create for their family. He feels confident that he is able to do that for his family. We get to see him sort of step into that. I wish you guys could see more of that journey — that sort of spinoff, if it ever happened.”

How fatherhood frames legacy

For Spears, becoming a parent — especially as a millennial portraying a father of that same generation on television — has made him reflect on the way he was parented and how that shapes the expectations he has for himself as a father.

“I think for myself, and for Marty, having good parents — Marty’s a mama’s boy, but also Marty’s dad is such a dad. Calvin is really up there in the pantheon of great TV dads,” he expressed.

“He’s funny. He’s a little gruff. He’s a little dated, behind on the times, but he leads with love. He leads with protection. He leads with care. I think Marty, in reflecting on the dad that he had, there was a time he was nervous about being that good of a dad and uncertain that he could sort of step up to that plate. But I think where we leave him in the show is him being fully confident in the understanding that part of a legacy is, you’re not alone. Part of Marty’s legacy, and the gift that he’s been given from his parents, is understanding that it does take a village.”

‘It really does take a village’

“Let me tell you something. The thing that I’ve learned as a parent — this is just myself speaking — I thought, and this is one of the lessons that my parents gave me that I don’t think I’m going to take,” Spears said.

“I thought being a parent, like, you had to do it on your own, you’ve got to do it solo. And once I had my first kid, I realized that there was so much I didn’t know and so much I’m learning on the fly,” he continued.

“And even when you have help, even when your parents are jumping in, they don’t know how to raise this kid; they knew how to raise the kids that they raised. They don’t know how to raise this child. And they might not have the same tactics as you, so you might want to do something a little different. As a millennial, I’m like, ‘I don’t know if you spank. Do I not spank? Like, what’s a little pop on the hand?’ Like, I don’t know, you’re trying to figure it out on your own.”

He added, “I realized really quickly, you don’t have to do this by yourself. I’m calling my brother. My brother’s gonna come and take this baby, because I need a second to breathe and focus.”

Spears also reflected on how his workplace became part of that support system.

“I would bring my daughter to work. She’s a set baby. I bring my kid to work, and because I have a baby in the show, when the character Daphne was in a stroller in rehearsal, Nola was in that stroller. She sleeps on set, Nola will be playing on set, Nola will be in my arms on set.”

“And I realized it does take a village. So, I would have my friends on set, the cast and crew members, my baby would be in Tichina’s [Arnold] room playing, they’re having a blast. And I realized we did, as a culture, get away from community.”

His key takeaway from ‘The Neighborhood’

When it is all said and done and the finale airs, Spears said he is proud that The Neighborhood set out to remind people about the importance of community and redefining it for themselves.

“We’re in a time where the country is super divided, which is crazy because eight years ago, we kind of felt like we’re back in that time again, but the country is very divided,” he shared.

“I think so many people have gotten so used to these sorts of faceless neighbors. You see videos and stuff only where people are like, ‘My neighbor put this in my yard,’ and you sort of got away from the old school, when I was growing up as a millennial, where if my neighbor saw me doing something I wasn’t supposed to do, not only was that neighbor probably gonna tell my mom, but my mom had given the neighbor permission to spank me if I was doing something I wasn’t supposed to do.”

“We sort of moved away from that as the world became more connected. As the internet connects people miles away, states across, worlds away, countries across, we lost the immediate connections we used to have.”

Spears concluded, “Our show tried to encourage people to reinvest in those relationships, and we look at those relationships because that’s where community starts. Community starts right there with your neighbor, right there on your block, right there in your town, in your city, in your neighborhood.”

“I hope that when it’s all said and done, and people watch our farewell episode, they can take some of that with them, because we’re going to need it as a country.”

The final episode of The Neighborhood airs May 11 on CBS.