ABC Announces Original ‘Wonder Years’ Cast to Guest Star Across Sitcoms, Releases New Reboot Trailer

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The cast of the original “Wonder Years” will guest star across ABC sitcoms on the night of the reboot’s premiere, Sept. 22.

First, Dan Lauria, who played patriarch Jack Arnold on the late-1980s and early-’90s family sitcom, will appear on “The Goldbergs,” which airs at 8 p.m. on the Alphabet network. That will be followed by premiere of the reboot at 8:30 p.m., which will include “a nod” to the iconic theme song originally covered by Joe Cocker.

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“The Conners,” which premieres at 9 p.m., will include Fred Savage, who played Kevin Arnold on the original sow and serves as an executive producer on the new one, and “Home Economics,” which closes the Wednesday night sitcom block at 9:30 p.m., will feature Danica McKellar, who formerly played Winnie Cooper.

The network did not share information about the characters these actors would be playing.

ABC’s new version of “The Wonder Years” is another coming-of-age comedy, this time following Dean Williams (played by Elisha “EJ” Williams) in the central role, with Don Cheadle taking on the adult voice of the character and narrating the show. The show is set in Montgomery, Ala. during the 1960s.

“We want to really take opportunity to show a part of Black, middle class life that had not been seen before. Usually, when you talk about the late ’60s, it’s talking about the struggle in the civil rights movement and things like that, that are very valid and a part of our story as well,” creator and executive producer Saladin K. Patterson said during the show’s Television Critics Assn. press tour panel on Aug. 26.

“The difference between now and the late ’90s, early 2000s does not seem to be as different as when the original came out and you were looking from ’88 to ’68. And so, we really gravitated towards sticking to the universe — ‘The Wonder Years’ universe — and sticking to that original time, really looking at this Black, middle class perspective during that time because we haven’t really seen that represented on TV and film before,” he continued.

The series also stars Dulé Hill in the new patriarch role, Bill Williams; Saycon Sengbloh as Lillian Williams; Laura Kariuki as Kim Williams; Julian Lerner as Brad Hitman; Amari O’Neil as Cory Long, and Milan Ray as Keisa Clemmons.

“The Wonder Years” is produced by 20th Television. The pilot was written by Patterson, who executive produces alongside Lee Daniels, Marc Velez and Savage. Savage also directed the pilot.

Watch a new trailer for “The Wonder Years” below.

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