Danielle Fishel, Rider Strong and Will Friedle have given Boy Meets World a new life in the 2020s. In 2021, the three stars of the hit TGIF sitcom kicked off Pod Meets World, their own rewatch series breaking down every episode. And, considering how much the trio had been out of the public eye since the series wrapped in 2000, it's safe to say they were quite surprised by the reception."We didn't feel that we were popular when we were on the air," Friedle tells Parade in an exclusive interview. "I always called it the Wings of TGIF. We always felt like the show that just kind of kept going. So we didn't realize we were all that popular. And I think when we started to do the podcast, one of the things that was startling to me was everyone coming out with, 'This was my show of my childhood. This was the thing that was so important to me. And so it wasn't till 30 years later that I think we all realized just how special the show was to a lot of people."
?SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox ? In recent years, Pod Meets World has become its own media empire, spawning a number of spinoff podcasts hosted by some combination of Fishel, Strong and Friedle. The three went on the road in 2025 for Boy Meets World's 25th anniversary, with events from the tour, as well as various interviews about the podcast, being depicted in the film Doc Meets World (which had its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival). And, later this year, they'll put out Book Meets World, which they describe as both a "CliffNotes" version of what's been talking about on the podcast, plus cast and crew interviews and exclusive deep dives that never made the air.Certainly, Pod Meets World and its affiliated pieces of media have brought this show back into the discourse, even a quarter-century off the air. But, technically, it wasn't the first time we were getting to talk about Topanga, Shawn and Eric in the 21st century. Because, back in 2014, we were introduced to Girl Meets World, a new spinoff focusing on the lives of Cory, Topanga and their children living in New York City. While the three-season series focused primarily on the Matthews family, many BMW actors made cameo appearances, including Strong and Friedle. Shockingly, however, that was not always a given, considering how they found out about the sequel series in the first place."We didn't get the call," Strong reveals. "We found out about it in the press.""Nobody told us," Friedle agrees."It wasn't a great experience finding out about Girl Meets World at that time," Strong says. "It was not fun."
Related: 'Boy Meets World’ Stars Give Rare Insight into Major Fall Out with Former Co-Star: ‘I Haven’t Given Up On My Friend’
Eventually, series creator Michael Jacobs (who also served as creator and showrunner for Boy Meets World) asked both men to come on and reprise their star-making roles. And, seemingly, both of them only agreed to appear as Shawn and Eric again under very specific circumstances that existed quite literally behind the camera."For me, it was just an opportunity to direct again, and really take that seriously in that part of my creative life," says Strong. "I was not excited to act.""I wasn't either," adds Friedle. "And the only reason I went on is because the deal was, if I did a few episodes, I could write an episode."Of course, Fishel was told about Girl Meets World ahead of time, given how central Topanga would be to the show proper. But she was far from a guaranteed lock as well, given what was going on in her life at the time Jacobs approached her."I had just literally the same week been accepted to Chapman University to get my master's degree," she recalls. "I was going to school to be a marriage and family therapist. And so I remember getting that call and hearing the pitch and also being told, 'This is still really early.' I think it was much further along than I was led to believe. "But I remember just being like, 'Okay, wait, I need to wrap my brain around this.' And then I went through all of the logical questions. Are we old enough to have a teen daughter? How would that have worked? It's only 2013. But, if we had a kid right after the show ended, we could have a 12-year-old."
Related: Why Rider Strong Took Back Saying ‘Never’ to ‘Boy Meets World’ Spin-OffDespite all the changes happening in her life (and a bit of mental math she had to do to make it make sense), Fishel ultimately decided to sign on."There was no doubt in my mind [that] this kind of opportunity doesn't come around again," she says. "I get to go back and visit Topanga. And I knew that Chapman University was going to still be standing if I said yes to this, and I could always go back and do that." It should be noted, at the time of this article's publication, Fishel has yet to go back to school, as Girl Meets World allowed her to get back into Hollywood again both as an actress and director. And the series helped shine a spotlight on its young stars in Sabrina Carpenter and Rowan Blanchard, who would obviously go on to have incredible careers in their own right. Despite that, however, having taken the better part of five years relitigating the original series, Strong has a bit of a hot take about its sequel."I feel like, in retrospect, Girl Meets World happened a little too early," he admits. "I think, if that show was pitched to us now, we would be like, 'Oh my gosh, we would love to be involved.' But at the time, in our 30s, I think it was just not right. We didn't have enough distance."
Related: 'Boy Meets World' Stars Reveal What Their Characters Would Be Doing Now (Exclusive)
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