I never thought I’d say this while in my mid-20s, but I’m really looking forward to a Disney Channel show. Fans of the 90s sitcom Boy Meets World got a strong dose of nostalgia with the news that Disney was moving forward with a sequel series aptly titled Girl Meets World, and the show is shaping up to be a suitable companion to creator Michael Jacobs’ original series. Jacobs is spearheading GMW for Disney, and we already know that Ben Savage and Danielle Fischel are signed to reprise their roles as classic couple Cory and Topanga while we follow the adventures of their 13-year-old daughter, Riley.
Though it was initially unclear how many original castmembers might appear on the sequel series, Jacobs has now clarified the matter by simply stating that anyone who wants to come back is more than welcome. Hit the jump for more.
Development on Girl Meets World happened very, very fast, so Boy Meets World castmembers were understandably caught off guard when the news broke. Jacobs recently sat down for a lengthy interview with THR about the highly anticipated project (Disney has only ordered a pilot thus far, but they’d be downright crazy not to pick it up to series), and he addressed the prospect of other BMW castmembers popping up:
“When Rider [Strong] said that he was not approached about being a part of the show, there actually was no official show. [At the time] it was an idea that Gary Marsh, Adam Bonnett Corey Marsh, and the Disney Channel people called me up asking if I would be interested in doing this. It just got an official green light for pilot. I didn’t want to talk to everybody about something that was only a discussion. Then the world reacted and I got a bajillion phone calls. Rider and Will Friedle and all of the cast said, ‘What is this? We thought we were done!’ We sat down with them and talked about what their roles on the show might be. Whoever wants to be part of this show will be and whoever wants to move on will. The most important thing is to see what the show is and then see what their part in it will be. Will Friedle said, ‘I will be at every taping.’ Everybody is quite attached to it. The bottom line is: Will Rider or Will be a cast member? Will they put in appearances? Maybe, maybe not. We’ll see.”
In short, it sounds like we’ll at least see a brief appearance by most of the main cast, if not more significant roles. How great would it be if Eric moved in next door and became the new (albeit more creepy/weird) Feeny to young Riley?
Jacobs also briefly touched on the focus of the show, saying Riley Matthews won’t necessarily be the central character of every episode:
“You’re going to be seeing a lot of Riley Matthews because she’s the point of view of this show, but what influences her are all of the characters in her life. You are going to see very equal attention paid to Cory and Topanga and all of the other supporting cast as you would naturally term it… Girl Meets World can be told on two levels: the coming of age of Riley Matthews and two parents who haven’t quite come of age themselves.”
Should Disney Channel decide to pick the pilot up to series (don’t you ruin this for me, Disney!), we should hopefully see Girl Meets World on the air sometime this fall. Check out an image of the actress playing Riley Matthews, Rowan Blanchard, below.
