Ariana Grande and Victoria Justice had the full Victorious reunion that we need right now
If you were watching Nickelodeon in the 2010s, then you were first introduced to Ariana Grande as Cat Valentine. Long before the Grammy Award-winning singer ever declared that “god is a woman,” she was the lovable, red-haired student attending Hollywood Arts High School on the show Victorious. The show also starred Victoria Justice, who was one of our Zoey 101 faves. We are so nostalgic for those simpler times when we would grab a Go-Gurt, flip on the TV, and hear that bop of a theme song, “Make It Shine,” start to play. So of course, we were thrilled to hear that the cast of Victorious was having a 10-year reunion.
The cast had planned to do this in person before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and practicing social distancing, became the new norm. But with the appropriate spirit for a series about young, aspiring performers, the crew essentially said, “The show must go on,” and decided to still have the reunion—virtually. In addition to Grande and Justice, Leon Thomas III, Matt Bennett, Avan Jogia, Elizabeth Gillies, Daniella Monet, Eric Lange, and the show’s creator, Dan Schneider, all hopped on a Zoom call to thank fans for their support.
“We wanted to get together virtually to say thank you,” Schneider says in a recording of the chat.
He continued: “Thank you so much for accepting Victorious into your homes and for making us part of your lives. It means so much to us how the fans have accepted us over the last 10 years. So thank you, thank you, thank you.”
With instruction from Schneider, Justice also chimed in to send a message to the show’s fans. “Oh my gosh, we love you guys. Thank you so much for supporting our show, and after all these years. Ten years—this is absolutely insane. And we hope that you guys are staying home and staying safe and staying healthy, and [we’re] sending you guys all the love in the world.”
After Justice finished saying her part, Grande raised her wine glass to do a virtual cheers to those of us watching at home. She also posted about the reunion, tweeting out a screenshot of the Zoom chat (putting a black-and-white filter on it to make it her own) and simply captioning it, “Happy.”
https://twitter.com/udfredirect/status/1243783789735579648
As you can see from Grande’s post, even the puppet, Rex Powers, was in attendance.
In the midst of our long, indefinite quarantine, this cheery cast reunion and taste of 2010s nostalgia was just what the doctor ordered. But next time a Nickelodeon show from our youth has a virtual meet-up (here’s looking at you, iCarly), could someone just drop the Zoom link, please?