That '90s Show 's Ashley Aufderheide Shares Which '70s Show Star Gave Her the Best Advice
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That '90s Show star Ashley Aufderheide found some extra support in one of the original That '70s Show cast members while filming the new Netflix spinoff.
At the series' premiere on Jan. 12, Aufderheide, who plays rebellious teenager Gwen, revealed to PEOPLE that Wilmer Valderrama gave her some valuable advice about how she needs to "stay authentic" in order to achieve success on the show.
"I talked to Wilmer [Valderrama] a lot. He gave a lot of advice, but almost all of the legacy cast was very helpful in giving advice," she said.
Aufderheide, 17, recalled how Valderrama, 42, told her, "I just need to stay authentic to who I am. That's what [Valderrama and the cast] said, just like, 'You're going to be funny if you just do what you want to do, and be as real as possible.' Then that's how you emulate the chemistry, and how to be the best that you can be."
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Aufderheide also expanded on what she loved about the original series and how she hoped to emulate certain aspects with her That '90s Show castmates.
"Something that I admired a lot about the original is their chemistry," Aufderheide explained. "When I was actually working with them, they were saying that the most important part is to be authentic. So I built such great relationships with all of my castmates, and so it's so easy to emulate the same sort of chemistry and vibe, because I'm friends with them in real life."
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Aufderheide's costar, Sam Morelos, echoed similar sentiments to PEOPLE about the conversations she had with the original cast, particularly with Valderrama.
"They share so many little nuggets of wisdom in between regular conversations," said Morelos, who plays the laser-focused Nikki. "Like me and Wilmer, we would talk... I had a scene with him and then in-between takes, first we'd talk about music, and well, just life, but then he'd be like, 'Don't forget to stay grounded throughout the whole process and know where you came from and that's really important.'"
Starring as the sarcastic and insightful Ozzi, Reyn Doi also told PEOPLE that Valderrama gave him advice while filming together.
"He said, 'Take advantage of those rehearsals, because you only have one shot to show it to the network,'" Doi said of impressing executives.
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It wasn't just Valderrama who made an impression on the young cast members.
Maxwell Donovan, who portrays Gwen's lovable brother Nate, also spoke highly of original stars Topher Grace, Debra Jo Rupp, Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis at the series' premiere.
"They were all so amazing. I mean, they would come to set and I was always just so blown away by how down earth they all were. And they would come up and be like, 'Hi, I'm Mila,' 'hi, I'm Ashton.' I was just like, 'I know. Oh my God,'" Donovan recalled. "I remember the very first day, actually, Debra Jo and Topher sat down to lunch with us and just talked to us for two hours, about '70s Show traditions they had behind the scenes and sort of brought us in on that. It totally calmed my nerves and also just made me feel immediately part of this family."
Elaborating on the traditions, Donovan said, "One that we do now every time before a live taping is we all put our hands together and on the count of three, we shout our favorite line from the episode and raise our hands up. And apparently that was a tradition that they did for all eight seasons of '70s Show. And they brought us in on that, which was just so, so surreal to be in a circle with all of these people that I've grown up watching... It was really cool."
Netflix
In October 2021, Netflix announced that they picked up a sequel series of That '70s Show. Titled That '90s Show, the spinoff follows the daughter of Eric (Grace) and Donna (Laura Prepon) as she visits her grandparents in Wisconsin.
Kurtwood Smith and Rupp will reprise their roles as Red and Kitty, respectively, and also serve as executive producers. Meanwhile, the OG cast members, also including Tommy Chong, are set to return for special guest appearances.
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Season 1 of That '90s Show is now streaming on Netflix.
