While today Cosgrove, 28, has Instagram, Twitter and Facebook accounts, the internet didn’t play a big role in the actress’s life back when she was first approached about iCarly, which followed a teen with a web show. “When I was 13 and Nickelodeon came to me with the idea for the show, I remember thinking, ‘Are other kids gonna like that because what’s a web show?’ Like to me you know, when I was 13, the internet wasn’t that big a part of my life at all,” Cosgrove tells Parade.com in an exclusive new interview. “And now, for 13-year-olds today, it’s like every 13-year-old has a TikTok or a YouTube channel or an Instagram or all of them and it’s just such a different time now.” She added, “I could have never predicted back then when I was 13 that things would be the way they are today.” Cosgrove also never thought she’d have the opportunity to play a grown-up version of Carly after the original show came to an end in 2012, but with Season 2 now here, what a difference a decade makes! Keep reading to find out what Miranda Cosgrove had to say about revisiting Carly all these years later, plus how she relates to the character and which show she grew up watching that she’d like to see rebooted.
What do you think is the No. 1 way you’re most like Carly in real life?
Carly’s pretty naive and sometimes that gets her into tough situations. Carly’s smart, but she just wants to see the good in everything and it doesn’t always lead her down the best path. So, I relate to her in that way. And then also just that since the beginning like since the very first season of the show, every time she crushes on a guy she thinks that it’s gonna be like prince charming and it’s gonna go perfectly, and she ends up going on dates and something always goes terribly wrong. I feel like I can relate to her in that like that’s happened to me many times in my life.
In the Season 2 premiere, we see Carly reading the comments on her videos. Is that something you do, or do you tune all of that out?
I’ve gone through waves of different things throughout my life. When I was younger, I used to read almost every comment and I’d get really into it. Most of the time people are really nice and it’s very positive. But, of course, there’s going to be one mean comment if you keep looking. So for a while I kind of stopped because I thought maybe it’s not the healthiest thing to do. But when the trailer for the new season came out, I read some of the comments on YouTube and people were mostly really positive and nice. Now, I don’t want to miss out on all the nice things people have to say just because some people aren’t gonna love it. So now, I don’t spend a ton of time reading them, but I like to read them sometimes and just see what people think.
Is there a topic you haven’t tackled on the reboot yet that you want to, or that’s coming up this season that you’re looking forward to?
We did one episode this season—totally lighthearted and fun—we touch on influencers that have a really overly positive image and then how they deal with getting angry about mean comments, or being mad about certain things because when you’re in the spotlight, you’re an influencer, you’re just being judged by so many people. We did a whole episode about that. It’s not just about Carly, but about other influencers that are on the show, and what they do to handle that. But it’s a comedic thing that they do. They kind of have a secret underground club. That was fun to do, taking something real that’s a little bit sad and twisting it and making it kind of fun and silly.
You and Carly are both in your 20s now. Have you drawn on personal experiences for some of the storylines seen on the reboot?
Some of the bad dates that are in the first season and I think there’s one in the second season, they were drawn from weird experiences I’d had. Other than that, the way Carly is with her web show… She struggles a lot during this season because she wants to make sure she puts up content that really reflects who she is, but also she wants to post stuff that people want to see. So there’s a whole thing this season where she’s kind of struggling with that because she’s like, I could post this and you know, more people might like it, but it’s not really me or, you know, whatever it is. So I kind of relate to Carly in that way; I have an Instagram and every time I post something I’m like, “Should I post this or…” I just know that kind of internal struggle. So I relate to her with that, for sure.
All these years later, what’s been the most special part about revisiting this character?
The most special part probably getting to be around Jerry [Trainor] and Nathan [Kress] again every day. It was really sad when the show ended and I grew up making the show. I spent my whole childhood pretty much on that set. Maybe a couple months before I turned 20, we stopped filming the show, and I went to college and, you know, my life changed so much. Everyone’s life changes a lot when they start college, but I just felt really sad because that was everything I was used to—getting to be around them every day and make the show and I never thought that I’d have the opportunity to do it again. So I think that’s been one of the most special things about playing the character again, getting to do something I didn’t think I’d ever get to do because I never thought I’d get to play a grown-up version of that character and then also getting to be around Nathan and Jerry again every day.
Where do you see Carly 10 years from now?
It took so long to figure out where Carly would even be for the new series and that’s been 10 years, so I don’t know. I’d like to see her married. I’d like to see like one of her love situations finally work out. And I’d like to see her reconnect with Sam, maybe when she’s older. I know she’ll still always have Freddie and Spencer and Millicent and Harper in her life, too.
Is there a show that you grew up watching that you would love to see rebooted one day that maybe hasn’t been already?
I love Lizzie McGuire. And I always wanted to see Lizzie with Gordo; that was a big thing for me when I was young. So I’d love to see that rebooted and then I love Hey Arnold!. Hey Arnold! was one of my favorite shows when I was little. I liked a lot of the old animated shows on Nickelodeon like Rugrats. Hey Arnold!, CatDog. I’d love to see any of those redone. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity Next, Schedule Your Next Family Movie Night With These Upcoming 2022 Kids Movies We Can’t Wait to Watch
