Following his shocking revelations in Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, Drake Bell hasn’t totally ruled out a return to his roots.
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| Josh Peck and Drake Bell on the set of Grandfathered. Jordin Althaus/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty |
The The Amanda Show actor recently revealed that he and his former onscreen brother Josh Peck have “talked about” a potential reboot of their early aughts Nickelodeon sitcom Drake & Josh, pitching a buddy comedy format for the duo, 20 years after the show premiered.
“I would love to. We’ve talked about it,” Bell told The Patriot-News. “But I also didn’t want to do it when everyone was doing the reboots. It’s like, ‘Okay, of course, let’s do a reboot because everyone’s doing reboots.’ If we’re going to do something, it should be more special. Let’s hit ’em with a bang, instead of, ‘oh, another reboot.'”
He and Peck played the titular odd-couple stepbrothers in the kids show that ran for four seasons from 2004 to 2007, also starring Miranda Cosgrove as their younger sister Megan.
“I don’t think I would do us playing the characters from the show, or having [our sister] Meg,” added Bell. “I think, luckily for us, it’s our names, so we can still play Drake and Josh. But I think it’d be funnier if we go on to doing other buddy comedies, you know. Something that is kind of a surprise, a little different. It would be more interesting.”
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Jonathan Goldstein, Miranda Cosgrove, Drake Bell, Josh Peck and Nancy Sullivan in Drake & Josh (2004-07). (Nickelodeon/Courtesy Everett Collection) |
Nickelodeon certainly has a precedent for producing direct follow-ups to the series that made Bell and Peck teen stars. It has revived several of its properties from the 1990s and 2000s with their original casts, including Good Burger, Zoey 101, and iCarly, the latter of which starred Cosgrove.
The interview comes after the Investigation Discovery documentary series Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, in which Bell revealed the abuse he suffered at the hands of Amanda Show dialogue coach Brian Peck (no relation to Josh) while he was a minor on Nickelodeon. Peck pled no contest and was sentenced to 16 months in prison, as well as being ordered to register as a sex offender.
Bell said the support from fans and response to the documentary “has been incredible” as he goes on tour with his fifth album Non-Stop Flight.
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| Josh Peck and Drake Bell. Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty |
“There’s been a ton of support. And when you are diving into something like that, you are very trepidatious. It’s an emotional roller coaster. You don’t know how people are going to react, or what what’s going to happen, or what the aftermath is going to be,” said Bell, adding: “People are coming up and sharing their stories. And it’s been really nice.”
From Entertainment Weekly:
Drake Bell wants to reboot Drake & Josh with a Curb Your Enthusiasm-inspired twist
"I'd love to revisit something with Josh [Peck]," the actor said on the "Behind the Velvet Rope" podcast.
Drake Bell would love to find a way, find a way to bring Drake & Josh back to TV screens, and he has a pretty, pretty good idea for how to do it.
On the latest episode of the Behind the Velvet Rope podcast, the former Nickelodeon star said he'd be open to reuniting with castmate Josh Peck and reviving the show that made them famous — but this time with a Curb Your Enthusiasm-inspired update.
"I have a really special place in my heart for Drake & Josh and I would love to revisit the character," said Bell, 38. "I'd love to revisit something with Josh, whether it's a reboot or… my dream is to do something kind of like Curb Your Enthusiasm, where we're playing ourselves but trying to navigate life today."
In fact, Bell already has a meta idea for why the duo would be linking up again. "Maybe I'm trying to get him back together with me and he's like, 'Dude, you're annoying, get away,'" he said. "I don't know what it is, but I would love to do some kind of Entourage or Curb Your Enthusiasm-type thing with Josh one day."
Bell also expressed interest in working with his other Drake & Josh castmates again. "It'd be really cool to have Crazy Steve, Helen, Craig and Eric, Audrey and Walter, and bring the whole gang back, you know, Megan," he said, referring to the characters played by Jerry Trainor, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alec Medlock, Scott Halberstadt, Nancy Sullivan, Jonathan Goldstein, and Miranda Cosgrove." I think it'd be really fun."
Airing for four seasons between 2004 and 2007, Drake & Josh starred Bell and Peck as teenage stepbrothers who are forced to get along — and fend off their younger sister — after their parents get married. The series also spawned two made-for-TV movies (Drake & Josh Go Hollywood and Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh) and a TV special (Really Big Shrimp).
Meanwhile, Nickelodeon has revived several of its hit '90s and 2000s shows in recent years, including Good Burger, Zoey 101, and Cosgrove's own iCarly.
Bell has previously expressed his desire to do something "special" and out of the ordinary when it comes to a potential Drake & Josh reunion project.
"I think it'd be funnier if we go on to doing other buddy comedies, you know?" he told Pennsylvania's Patriot-News in August. "Something that is kind of a surprise, a little different. It would be more interesting."
Bell's podcast appearance also comes several months after the release of the Investigation Discovery docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, in which he opened up about being sexually abused by a dialogue coach while working on another Nickelodeon series, The Amanda Show.
Listen to Bell's full interview on Behind the Velvet Rope above.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story had an incorrect name for the podcast Behind the Velvet Rope. The story has been updated to reflect the correct name.
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From E! News:
Drake Bell Reveals His “Dream” Idea for Drake & Josh Reboot With Josh Peck
Drake Bell wants to find a way to make a Drake & Josh reboot happen with his former co-star Josh Peck—and he already has some ideas.
Hug me, brotha! Drake Bell is all for a Drake & Josh reboot.
The Nickelodeon alum, who starred alongside Josh Peck, 38, in the iconic mid-aughts series, has given some thought into reviving the show.
"I have a really special place in my heart for Drake & Josh and I would love to revisit the character," Drake said on a Dec. 10 episode of Behind the Velvet Rope podcast. "I'd love to revisit something with Josh, whether it's a reboot, or my dream is to do something kind of like Curb Your Enthusiasm, where we're playing ourselves but trying to navigate life today."
And with the sitcom starring Larry David as his inspiration, the 38-year-old already has a vision for their characters’—Drake Parker and Josh Nichols—future.
"Maybe I'm trying to get him back together with me and he's like, 'Dude, you're annoying, get away,'" he brainstormed. "I don't know what it is, but I would love to do some kind of Entourage or Curb Your Enthusiasm-type thing with Josh one day."
And Drake—who was recently a contestant on The Masked Singer—even discussed bringing some of their cast members back to reprise their eccentric characters.
"It'd be really cool to have Crazy Steve, Helen, Craig and Eric, Audrey and Walter, and bring the whole gang back, you know, Megan," he said of the characters played by Jerry Trainor, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alec Medlock, Scott Halberstadt, Nancy Sullivan, Jonathan Goldstein and Miranda Cosgrove, respectively. “I think it'd be really fun."
As for his on-screen little sister that has since gone on to star in Paramount+’s iCarly revival? She’s keeping an open mind.
"Maybe," Miranda told E! News when asked about the possibility of a reboot at the 2023 Kids' Choice Awards. "It feels like everything is getting a reboot nowadays, so nothing's off the table."
After all, this wasn’t the first time that the cast has floated the idea of continuing their characters’ stories. Drake hinted that he and his former costar were working on a script in 2019 but has since revealed that the project was abandoned. In fact, he and his then-wife Janet Von Schmeling detailed some of the creative differences that put an end to what they called Josh & Drake.
"It wasn't the best," Janet said of the script on a 2022 episode of her Drake & Janet podcast. "Josh wrote Drake as a failed musician and Josh wrote himself as a real estate agent. OK, that's fine, but Drake is a musician in real life, so it wouldn't make sense."
But in the end, they just couldn’t find a way.
"I just asked him to change a couple things, and he couldn’t,” Drake added, “and my wife wouldn't let me do it."
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Originally published: August 17, 2024.
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