Rider Strong says there’s ‘definitely potential’ he will appear in Girl Meets World, predicts what Shawn would be doing
Proving that it was actually possible to become even more lovable, Boy Meets World‘s Rider Strong recently spoke with Buzzfeed about what the TGIF show means to him, where his relationship stands with his co-stars and how there’s “definitely potential” for him to appear on Girl Meets World.
On Girl Meets World buzz
Rider said he and his former Boy Meets World co-stars were relatively blindsided when news broke about the spin-off before any deals were finalized.
“The internet just exploded with the news. And that sort of brought us all together because we all started instantly calling each other, being like, ‘What’s going on?’ ‘What do you know?’ So that was when the four of us started having dinners — Ben, Danielle, Will, and I — and we decided to all keep in touch. It was really the Girl Meets World thing that brought us back together,” Rider said, explaining they’ve gotten together for “epic” dinner parties.
Even though he’s excited for the new show, Rider admitted he’s nervous it won’t live up to the original ABC show’s standards.
“Not to make it too highfalutin, but there’s this sense that we did something kind of magical and that feels obviously very personal and precious. I’m confident now, after having had many conversations with Michael and the writing staff and Ben and Danielle… What I saw when I visited the set made me feel like the respect for the original show was going to be maintained and that the tone was going to be very similar.”
On whether he’ll reprise his role as Shawn Hunter
Explaining there is “nothing official yet,” Rider said he’s had a few hypothetical conversations with Michael Jacobs (who created Boy Meets World and is writing Girl Meets World) about what Shawn Hunter would be doing.
“Michael’s whole rule with Shawn was always that Shawn has to be miserable and that nothing can be good in Shawn’s life. So, we talked about a couple different versions and I’m not sure which way it’s going to end up happening and none of them are very happy,” Rider said. “It’s part of the dynamic of the show that Cory and Topanga are very happy and that they form, especially with their new family, this very healthy cornerstone and Shawn has to be there for the counterpoint of what life would be like if Cory and Topanga didn’t have each other, if they didn’t have their families.”
On what happened to Mr. Turner
After making a quick transition from school teacher to Shawn’s guardian, Jonathan Turner disappeared just as abruptly from the show — which has bothered many Boy Meets World faithfuls ever since then. Fortunately, Michael Jacobs recently told Entertainment Weekly that he plans to (finally!) wrap that storyline. Rider said he’s as pleased as the rest of us to finally get some resolution.
“We all wanted him to come back and it just didn’t happen; we had so many other storylines to tie up. So, I’m glad that Michael’s aware of that. Now, thanks to the internet, he’s reading these message boards and seeing the comments and aware the fans, in a way that he couldn’t be then. There was no such thing.”
On the Boy Meets World wedding overlaps
As Rider previously admitted, he’s the one to blame for scheduling his wedding to Alexandra Barreto the same weekend Danielle Fishel got married — and it was all a silly oversight: When Rider and Alexandra decided where they wanted to wed, there was only one weekend available. They sent the deposit before remembering that was the same weekend Danielle already claimed.
“It just sucked because I would’ve loved to have been at her wedding and I know she and Tim (her new husband) would’ve loved to have been at ours.”
Rider added there are no hard feelings between him and Ben Savage, who went to Danielle’s wedding.
“(Danielle) spread the net among the Boy Meets World people a lot wider. I mean, obviously, she’s working with a lot of them now… I knew I was going to lose Ben. He had to go to her wedding. There was no way. And Will came to mine. I knew that he would come to mine; we see each other like every other week.”
On his semi-iconic hair
Apparently Rider is the only person in the world who didn’t love Shawn Hunter’s hair.
“It’s one of those things where you make a decision at 12. I started wearing that ridiculous hair because I went to a sleepover when I was probably 12, and it was at that age where you could have a sleepover with girls too because we were still young enough. The girls descended on me and parted my hair down the middle and flipped it back and they were like, ‘Yeah! You look like Christian Slater. This is how you have to wear your hair.'”
When he won role of Shawn shortly afterward, Rider said Michael Jacobs requested he keep his hair the same way… For the next seven years. It wasn’t until the final season — when Rider was preparing to go to college at Columbia — that Michael finally caved.
“At the point, Will had already cut his hair, Matt Lawrence had short hair, so Michael was like, ‘Fine, you can also have short hair.'”
On his snark-worthy name
Rider jokingly admitted his “stupid” name has led to some interesting jokes online, but he’s found a good way to deal with the teasing.
“When I first joined Twitter, I started doing a self-Twitter search and the amount of people making fun of my name, it was ridiculous! I just started compiling a bunch of them and then at some point, I decided to make fun of somebody making fun of my name or to comment or respond, and it just exploded. Everybody was like, “That’s hysterical!'”
If you’re craving a Rider Strong/Shawn Hunter fix now, pick up the Boy Meets World: The Complete Collection on Nov. 5.
