That ’70s Show Cast: What Have They Been Up To Since the Show Concluded?
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The post That ’70s Show Cast: What Have They Been Up To Since the Show Concluded? appeared first on Consequence.
A new era has begun in the Forman basement, and this time, we’re in the days of grunge, flannels, and young Gen X malaise. When it began on Fox in 1998, That ’70s Show became a comforting classic. Across eight seasons and 200 episodes from ’98 to 2006, the show gained millions of viewers and became Fox’s second-longest-running live-action sitcom to date. In the process, it made its central cast household names.
Now, nearly 25 years later, the first season of reboot That ’90s Show has launched on Netflix. The show focuses on the newer generation that spends their summer days in Point Place, Wisconsin: Eric Forman (Topher Grace) and Donna Pinciotti (Laura Prepon) are off in Chicago, but their 15-year-old daughter Leia decides to spend the summer with her grandparents, Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp) and Red (Kurtwood Smith). She befriends Jay, the son of Michael Kelso (Ashton Kutcher) and Jackie Burkhart (Mila Kunis), as well as fellow teens Ozzie, Gwen, Nate, and Nikki.
It’s been a long 17 years since That ’70s Show ended in 2006, and each actor from the original series has gone in very different, occasionally star-crossed directions. Both Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis — who are now married in real life, as well as in the show as their respective characters — starred in major romantic comedies, including the “same concept, different titles” 2011 duo of No Strings Attached and Friends With Benefits. Wilmer Valderrama, who played Fez, continues to feature in NCIS, while Laura Prepon appeared as a major role in the hit Netflix series Orange is the New Black.
Their cameos are mostly brief, but most of the core cast returns in That ’90s Show for some nostalgic flair. And not only are Debra Jo Rupp and Kurtwood Smith prominently featured, several side characters from the earlier show appear — including Tommy Chong as Leo, Don Stark as Bob Pinciotti, and Jim Rash as Fez’s nemesis, Fenton.
Wondering what those who are returning were doing before now? To save you the Wikipedia rabbit hole, we’ve compiled a summary of what those original core cast member has done since That ’70s Show finished in 2006.
Ashton Kutcher
That 70s Show (Fox)
After his final guest appearance on That ’70s Show in 2006, Ashton Kutcher was still a major cultural figure — his beloved role as Michael Kelso, as well as headlining Punk’d and starring in the downright silly Dude, Where’s My Car?, allowed him to be a serious (comedic) player for at least the rest of the decade. But he also took a brief break from acting to focus on producing several reality TV projects, including the final season of Punk’d.
He returned to the big screen in 2008 with box office hit What Happens in Vegas, and followed up with a series of successful romantic comedies — particularly 2011’s No Strings Attached opposite Natalie Portman. Then, Kutcher’s TV career continued by replacing Charlie Sheen in long-running sitcom, Two and a Half Men, in 2011. In a more serious turn, he played Steve Jobs in the 2013 biopic Jobs — while the film was successful at the box office, it currently has a 28% on Rotten Tomatoes, and is actively overshadowed by Danny Boyle and Aaron Sorkin’s much better 2015 biopic, Steve Jobs.
The critical failure of Jobs likely dealt a minor sting to Kutcher, and besides a cameo appearance in 2014’s Annie, he wouldn’t star in a film until 2022’s Vengeance. He did reunite (for a time) with That ’70s Show alum Danny Masterson and director David Trainer for Netflix’s The Ranch, which aired eight seasons from 2016 to 2020. Kutcher cameos as Kelso in That ’90s Show and is set to return to rom-com-dominance opposite Reese Witherspoon in the upcoming Netflix film Your Place or Mine.
Mila Kunis
That 70s Show (Fox)
Mila Kunis’ career really took off after playing Jackie in That ’70s Show. As of the show’s completion in 2006, Kunis had already voiced three seasons of Family Guy as the character Meg Griffin — a role she has continued to voice for 24 years now. But she transitioned from television vet to full-blown movie star in 2008 with Forgetting Sarah Marshall, where she plays the girl who (essentially) helps Jason Segel forget Sarah Marshall.
The appearance arrived at a time where her stock was growing significantly, and with Family Guy reaching its most dominant position in comedy around 2008-2010, she became known as one of the leading comedic ingenues in Hollywood.
Arguably her greatest performance to date came in 2010’s Black Swan as Natalie Portman’s rival ballerina, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Though the tone for Black Swan was much more intense, she followed it up with the successful rom-com Friends With Benefits opposite Justin Timberlake. Her comedic run then continued with an appearance in longtime collaborator Seth MacFarlane’s Ted in 2012 and Bad Moms in 2016.
In between these two films, Kunis appeared in several dramas, indie films, and studio comedies, but none of them would be major critical or box office successes. Her two biggest films since 2016 were 2018’s The Spy Who Dumped Me alongside Kate McKinnon and last year’s Netflix film adaptation of Luckiest Girl Alive. She appears opposite her current husband and former co-star Ashton Kutcher in That ’90s Show for a brief cameo, but Mila Kunis’ career is still wide open.
Topher Grace
That 70s Show (Fox)
Topher Grace was written off That ’70s Show for the series’ final season in 2005, but even before that, he was a go-to young actor for romantic comedies. His biggest appearance came shortly after That ’70s Show concluded by playing Eddie Brock/Venom in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 — though the film was a significant success at the box office, it failed to capture the attention of critics and catapult Grace even further into the limelight.
He followed up his Spider-Man role with more comedies, including the ensemble film Valentine’s Day, ’80s period piece Take Me Home Tonight, and 2015’s American Ultra. He’s appeared in a few serious film roles throughout this period — notably 2010’s Predators and Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar in 2014 — but his turn as Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKansman garnered the most acclaim and critical success of his career.
After a few guest-starring roles in several TV projects, Grace joined the cast of ABC’s Home Economics in 2021, and continues to headline the series today. Outside of acting appearances, Grace notably crafts condensed edits of films like Star Wars and The Hobbit, and alongside collaborator Jeff Yorkes, he created an official Pixar retrospective of Toy Story in 2019.
Laura Prepon
That 70s Show (Fox)
When That ’70s Show concluded in 2006, it took Laura Prepon six years to nab another commercially successful project, appearing in a few smaller films and guest-starring TV roles from 2006 to 2012. But her second breakthrough finally arrived when she took on the role of Alex Vause in Netflix’s Orange is the New Black from 2013 to the show’s completion in 2019. She received loads of acclaim for her role in the show, and it proved to be her biggest project outside of That ’70s Show.
She appeared briefly in the successful 2016 thriller The Girl on the Train, but her only major film role since then was 2017’s The Hero opposite Sam Elliott. She appears a few times as a guest star on That ’90s Show, but it’s safe to say that Prepon picks and chooses her projects very carefully at this stage in her career. Outside of film and TV, Prepon also wrote a cooking and wellness book in 2016 titled The Stash Plan with Elizabeth Troy, and continues to build out her personal line of cooking products, PrepOn Kitchen.
Wilmer Valderrama
That 70s Show (Fox)
After appearing as Fez in That ’70s Show, Wilmer Valderrama has arguably appeared in a higher volume of projects than his co-stars. When the show ended in 2006, Valderrama had just taken on hosting duties for MTV’s (now incredibly dated) comedy show Yo Momma. That same year, he joined the voice cast of Disney’s Handy Manny as Manny Garcia. The animated children’s TV show ran on Disney Channel from 2006 to 2012, and throughout that period, Valderrama only appeared in guest starring roles on various TV and film projects.
He then starred in the short-lived procedural drama Awake and joined the cast of Robert Rodriguez’ television reboot of From Dusk till Dawn from 2014 to 2016. However, he secured his biggest project since That ’70s Show in 2016, when he joined the cast of long-running procedural NCIS. As special agent Nick Torres, Valderrama has spent an ongoing six consecutive seasons as a series regular, and appeared in fellow NCIS spin-offs New Orleans, Hawai’i, and Los Angeles.
His most successful recent project, however, came in 2021 with his appearance in Disney’s Encanto as the voice of Mirabel’s father, Agustín. He also appears in three episodes of That ’90s Show, and throughout, forges a relationship with the Forman’s new neighbor, Sherri Runck (Andrea Anders).
Danny Masterson
That ’70s Show (Fox)
After the end of That ’70s Show, Danny Masterson (who does not appear in That ’90s Show) made several guest appearances across shows including King of the Hill, White Collar, and Entourage, and was a series regular on the shows Men at Work and The Ranch. He also appeared in the indie comedy Smiley Face and the Jim Carrey-starring Yes Man, among other film projects. Masterson was fired from The Ranch in 2017, following multiple accusations of sexual assault.
That ’90s Show is streaming now on Netflix.
That ’70s Show Cast: What Have They Been Up To Since the Show Concluded?
Paolo Ragusa
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