Jennette McCurdy won’t be back for the iCarly revival on Paramount+, but Miranda Cosgrove says her character’s absence won’t be ignored. In the original Nickelodeon series, which aired for six seasons from 2007 to 2012, McCurdy played Carly’s best friend and web show co-star Sam Puckett. The former child star has since retired from acting and has made it clear she isn’t interested in revisiting iCarly.
As Sam was such an important part of the original iCarly, her presence will be missed in the revival series. It was expected that her absence would be addressed in one way or another, and as it turns out, an explanation will be given in the very first episode. Sam will also be referenced in other episodes as well, so she’ll have a presence in the series even without Janette McCurdy. Here’s what her former co-star Miranda Cosgrove had to say about the situation to ComicBook.com.
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“Yeah, we definitely address Sam in the pilot, and in multiple episodes, so you’ll definitely be seeing that. And in real life we all really wanted Jennette to be part of the show, but she’s just doing other things right now, so you’ll get to see on Paramount+ on June 17th.”
Miranda Cosgrove’s response also confirms that the iCarly team wanted McCurdy to return. It just wasn’t possible at this time as McCurdy had already moved on from her acting endeavors before the new iCarly was even in the works. In a previous interview with Anna Faris on the Empty Inside podcast, McCurdy explained why she wasn’t interested in doing something like the revival series, noting that she’s embarrassed of the work she did on Nickelodeon.
“I’m so ashamed of the parts I’ve done in the past,” McCurdy explained. “I resent my career in a lot of ways. I feel so unfulfilled by the roles that I played and felt like it was the most cheesy, embarrassing… My friends at 15, they’re not like, ‘Oh, cool, you’re on this Nickelodeon show.’ It was embarrassing. And I imagine there’s a very different experience to be had with acting if you’re proud of your roles, and if you feel fulfilled by them.”
The former child star added: “Just because of my past and the auditions that would come across my eyes… It was like, ‘Okay, this is what the industry sees me as.’ I don’t want to do that. I’m not willing to do that.”
While McCurdy is out, the new iCarly does bring back the other key players of the original series. Miranda Cosgrove returns as an adult Carly Shay, now navigating life in her 20s while simultaneously launching her new iCarly show. Also returning are Jerry Trainor as her brother Spencer and Nathan Kress as her friend Freddie Benson. Joining them are new cast members Laci Mosley as Harper Raines and Jaidyn Triplett as Millicent Benson.
iCarly will launch with its first three episodes on June 17 on Paramount+. New episodes will then be released weekly. An official trailer was also recently released by the streamer, providing our first look at the return of Carly Shay. This news comes to us from ComicBook.com.
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