What Happened To Them?: The Cast of ‘Boy Meets World’

All of you Cory and Topanga lovers out there may have heard about the spin-off Girl Meets World, which is set to air on Disney in 2014. The show was big news, because Boy Meets World has been off the air for thirteen years – but despite this, both Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel have decided to reprise their roles, alongside a few other cast members. (Fingers crossed for Feeny. I repeat – Fingers crossed for Feeny. Hear me out here, William Daniels.)

Boy Meets World aired for seven seasons, and had a permanent home on ABC’s TGIF lineup. The show chronicled the life of young Cory Matthews (Savage) from middle school to college. Since the kids from the show pretty much grew up in front of our eyes, it’s obvious as to why fans would want to see how Cory and Topanga fared as parents.

While the show still has yet to air, let’s prep for it by finding out what the heck happened to the cast since they dramatically left town in that last episode.

And yes, I’m going deep with this one. We’re starting with Minkus.

Lee Norris as Stuart Minkus

Minkus only starred in the first season of the show, and then he vanished forever. Upon his vanishing, Topanga transformed from a space cadet nerd to the girl Cory was always in love with. Odd things happened in that summer between first and second season.

Rider Strong said in a Reddit AMA that Minkus was written out of the show because the show runners felt like there were too many shows in the pre-teen demographic with a “nerd” character, so they went in a different direction.

Lee Norris didn’t seem to suffer from the decision. A few years later, he starred as Marvin “Mouth” McFadden on The CW series One Tree Hill for almost a decade.

Lily Nicksay as Morgan Matthews (First Generation)

Lily played Cory’s younger sister Morgan for two seasons, before she was replaced. The show ran for a year without Morgan, and then she reappeared as older actress Lindsay Ridgeway, whose opening line was about how she was in “the longest timeout”.

“I went to high school in the highlands of Scotland,” Nicksay said. “I sailed around Europe and lived with the Karen tribe in Thailand for a month.” (Author’s Sidenote: I have a tribe?)

So yeah. Don’t feel too bad for Lily. She jumped back into acting this year, with a part in an episode of The Mentalist. And if you want to feel kind of old, she’s 25-years-old.

Lindsay Ridgeway as Morgan Matthews (Second Generation)

Lindsay has only had one role since the show ended (voicing a character named Britney in television show Totally Spies!) but she’s totally been keeping busy with education. Ridgeway graduated from the University of California, Riverside in June 2007, with a degree in Political Science and went on to receive her Masters Degree in Counseling from the University of Redlands in 2010.

William Russ as Alan Matthews

William played the father of Cory, his brother Eric, and (both) Morgan(s). Starting the show with working at a supermarket, he later works at the sporting goods store that his wife purchased.

Russ directed a few episodes of the show, and went on to directing a few episodes of Lizzie McGuire and Rude Awakenings. One of his most critically acclaimed roles was in 1998, playing Dennis Vinyard in American History X. He had a bit of a disappointment in 2009 when it was announced he was going to be playing a big part in Young and The Restless – while he was on the show, his time on the show was short, and he was soon replaced.

Betsy Randle as Amy Matthews

Betsy only had a few credits after her time as the charming Amy Matthews. The most notable was a recurring role in the television show Charmed, where she played Mrs. Winterbourne – her arc happened in 2004. Right before Boy Meets World, she was on a season of Home Improvement, playing Karen Kelly – a friend of Jill Taylor. She’s the mother of two non-fictional children named Jessica and Aaron.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06zbpFznqFw?feature=oembed

Rumor has it that she also really depends on Advil when she gets into tennis-related injuries.

Will Friedle as Eric Matthews

Okay, I’ll admit it here. I had the biggest crush on this dude.

Since the show, he’s found a place in the industry with vocal work. He’s provided voices in animated films, movies, and video games. And he seems to be getting pretty steady work with the gig.

Will was recently asked if he’d reprise his role on the spin-off, and he said he wasn’t sure – but no matter what, he’d be a fan. In an interview with Matt Sernaker of Comics Online, he said:

William Daniels as Mr. George Feeny

As mentioned before, I love Feeny. I mean, he pretty much unreasonably was Cory’s teacher in some fashion for about seven years. And he was also their neighbor! Maybe he was obsessed with him.

Daniels was actually the President of the Screen Actors Guild from 1999 to 2001, and has had numerous roles that have left a dent in television history – he was the voice of KITT in Knight Rider, and played Dr. Mark Craig in St. Elsewhere, winning two Emmys.

In 2012, he played Dr. Craig Thomas in Grey’s Anatomy, and played two different roles in two different episodes of Touched By An Angel (one airing in 1996, and one in 2003). He is rumored to be in Girl Meets World, and I’d like to think that credit was just added now, because of my pleas a few paragraphs ago. (Honestly, I won’t believe it till I see it.)

Guys, it should be noted that William is 86-years-old. He’s been acting since the 1950’s. He’s an absolute legend.

Rider Strong as Shawn Hunter

Remember the show Pepper Dennis on the WB? You might not – after all, it was only on air for about three months – but it was Rider’s return to television in 2006. He actually gained a little more notoriety with a television spot he made in support of Barack Obama in 2008 with his brother and girlfriend. The ad, submitted to MoveOn.org, became one of 15 finalists from a pool of over 1,100 submitted ads, and was chosen as the funniest ad that May – and subsequently, it aired on MTV and Comedy Central.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BncNpB6IZ9I?rel=0

While Strong said he wouldn’t be in Girl Meets World, he did appear on set. Creator Mark Jacobs said, “”I think there’s more than a chance, I think there’s a strong chance.” Pun was probably unintended.

Matthew Lawrence as Jack Hunter

Matthew was introduced to the show in its 5th season, as Shawn’s half brother and Eric’s roommate. He is, of course, Joey Lawrence’s real life bro – so his family isn’t new to show business

Speaking of Joey, Matthew was on an episode of Melissa & Joey in 2011, playing Tony Longo. In 2012, he was in the horror film Of Silence about an ailing former scuba diver, and this year it looks like he’ll be in a film called My Santa as “Chris”. I bet you 10 bucks he’ll be some kind of secret Santa Claus.

Trina McGee-Davis as Angela Moore

Angela was Shawn’s kinda-sorta-definitely girlfriend for the last two seasons of the show. In 2009, she was Yolanda Johnson, an exotic dancer, in a comedy called Da’ Booty Shop. It’s available over on Amazon if you want to watch it.

I thought Trina was absolutely fabulous on the show, but. I wish they called that comedy something else. I mean, I haven’t seen it, but I’m laughing over it already based on my 12-year-old mind.

Danielle Fishel as Topanga Lawrence

Oh, Topanga. Here’s what I know about you, without research:

You dated Lance Bass, and he turned out to be gay! You befriended Tyra Banks and was a correspondent on her short-lived talk show! You had a platform against weight issues, even though you were always beautiful regardless!

Here’s what I learned: She had a DUI in 2007 (not cool, girl) and attended California State University, Fullerton from 2008 to 2012, and graduated with her bachelor’s degree (very cool, girl.) In 2011, she was in an episode of Parenthood, and of course, she’ll be reunited with Ben Savage shortly.

Ben Savage as Cory Matthews

Ben starred as Cory, our beloved Brillo-Head hero of the show. You probably already know that he’s the younger brother of Fred (of Wonder Years fame).

In 2003, Savage interned for U.S. Senator Arlen Spector, for a requirement for Stanford University. He graduated in 2004 with a degree in Political Science and as a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity.

In 2008, he starred as Mark Ratner in an episode of the NBC series Chuck, as well as murder suspect Kirby Morris in an episode of Without a Trace. You might have also recognized him in 2011 episode of Bones.

So – the winner here? Has to be William Daniels. And if he does return as Feeny, I’ll double the accolades. Or at least practice Eric’s “Feeny Call” in my own neighborhood, and risk being arrested for public disturbance. Seriously – it means that much to me.

Image Credits: wetpaint.com (Daniels) kitv.com (Ridgeway) withleather.uproxx.com (Nicksay), fanpop.com -(Friedle), celebslists.com (Daniels) gossipcenter.com (Fishel) ausocdigitalyouth.wordpress.com (featured)