Danielle Fishel says 'Girl Meets World' struggled to escape 'Boy Meets World's' shadow

Danielle Fishel says 'Girl Meets World' faced pressure to include 'Boy Meets World' references despite new story plans

Danielle Fishel has revealed that she was "really frustrated" by the direction of Girl Meets World after its first season, saying the sequel series struggled to establish itself separately from Boy Meets World.

Fishel, who returned as Topanga Lawrence for the Disney Channel series, discussed the experience on the Pod Meets World podcast.

She said creator Michael Jacobs had initially assured her that the project would not be a traditional reboot and would instead introduce a new story.

"I remember being really frustrated after the first season started because before the show came out, Michael [Jacobs and I], we had a whole conversation about the idea that this was not going to be a reboot," she said. "It was going to be a whole new show."

Fishel said she trusted that approach enough to publish a Tumblr post asking fans to allow Girl Meets World to develop its own identity.

She said she had expected references to Boy Meets World to appear occasionally as Easter eggs rather than dominate the new series.

However, according to Fishel, the writing process frequently involved attempts to incorporate elements from the original show.

"We got in there and every day from morning until night was Michael and the writers trying to shoehorn 'Boy Meets World' things into it," she said. "And yet, at the time, Michael was the one who was encouraging me to write the blog."

Rider Strong, who reprised his role as Shawn Hunter, also recalled being asked to recreate moments from Boy Meets World. Strong said writers would remind him of scenes involving his original co-star Ben Savage.

"They're like, 'Remember when you and Ben [Savage] did this?' And I'd be like, 'I have no idea what you're talking about,'" Strong said.

Girl Meets World premiered in 2014 and ran for three seasons, ending in 2017 after 72 episodes. The series followed Fishel's Topanga and Cory Matthews, played by Ben Savage, as they raised their daughter Riley, portrayed by Rowan Blanchard.