A sequel series meant to stand on its own ended up trapped by constant callbacks to its predecessor. Despite early promises, Girl Meets World struggled to carve out a distinct identity during its three-season run.
Danielle Fishel says Girl Meets World struggled to escape Boy Meets World’s shadow
Danielle Fishel said Girl Meets World was supposed to stand on its own, but the series never escaped Boy Meets World’s shadow. The actor, who played Topanga Lawrence, discussed the creative tension on the Pod Meets World podcast. She explained that before filming began, creator Michael Jacobs assured her the project would not function as a traditional reboot.
“I remember being really frustrated after the first season started because before the show came out, Michael [Jacobs and I], we had a whole conversation about the idea that this was not going to be a reboot,” she said. “It was going to be a whole new show.”
Fishel trusted that vision enough to publish a Tumblr post at the time. In it, she asked fans to let Girl Meets World become its own thing and warned them to expect only occasional Easter eggs. However, the day-to-day reality on set told a different story. She described writers constantly working to insert Boy Meets World references into scripts for the new young cast.
“We got in there and every day from morning until night was Michael and the writers trying to shoehorn ‘Boy Meets World’ things into it,” she said. “And yet, at the time, Michael was the one who was encouraging me to write the blog.”
Rider Strong, who returned as Shawn Hunter, echoed that frustration. He recalled showrunners asking him to recreate specific moments from the original series. “They’re like, ‘Remember when you and Ben [Savage] did this?’ And I’d be like, ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,'” Strong said.
Girl Meets World aired from 2014 to 2017 and ran for 72 episodes. Despite that run, the series never fully established itself as independent in the eyes of its own cast.
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu on Comingsoon.net.
