Miranda Cosgrove on Balancing Adult ‘iCarly’ Reboot for Old and New Viewers, Life as a Child Actor

K.J. Yossman
·7 min read
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Miranda Cosgrove first shot to fame as a precocious 10-year-old in “School of Rock” before enthralling a generation of tweens in the ahead-of-its-time Nickelodeon show “iCarly,” about a girl with her own web show. Now Cosgrove is back with a rebooted “iCarly” on Paramount Plus, catering to both old fans, who grew up with the series, and new.

As Paramount Plus launches in the U.K. and Ireland, Cosgrove sat down with Variety to discuss stepping into Carly’s shoes, “School of Rock” and navigating life as a child actor.

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Why did you decide to come back and revisit “iCarly”?

To be perfectly honest, when I was first asked about maybe coming back, all the first talks about it started a couple years ago. And I was like, “No, we’re never gonna do that.” And I called [original “iCarly” co-stars] Jerry [Trainor] and Nathan [Kress] and they were like, “No we shouldn’t do that.” And then we just kept talking about it. And we came up with the idea that because we’re adults now, and all the people that originally watched the show, they were kids that grew up and are adults now like us, we were like, “Why don’t we make the show for them?” They’re the people that loved the show originally and they’re really who this is for. So that really gave us a lot of direction after we realized that we were all on board and wanted to do that. And it started to get really fun after that, because then we started coming up with ideas and we were like, we can do things [based on] the stuff that happens to us in real life and the things we’re going through as adults. So this new version of it is really about people in their late 20s, navigating life and figuring out what to do.

What was it like stepping back into Carly’s shoes after so many years?

It was crazy. The first week when I went back, just seeing all the sets – that was really emotional; looking around and seeing Nathan and Jerry, but seeing them grown up, but on the same set we grew up on when we were little. Like, it was just a really crazy experience.

You’re also an executive producer on the show now. What has that been like?

It was the scariest thing about coming back because I’ve never done anything like that before. But it’s also the thing that has helped me grow the most, and that I’m the most proud of… I think the thing we were all worried about, mostly, we didn’t want to let anybody down who liked the original series. But also, coming back, taking on an executive producer role, I was scared – maybe I wouldn’t be very good at it, I’ve never done it before. So it was kind of a big leap of faith in a lot of ways.

Hilary Duff has recently spoken out about how the planned “Lizzie McGuire” reboot was shelved because the powers that be were reluctant to have Lizzie in more grown-up situations. Has it been an issue catering to both the younger and more adult audiences in the new “iCarly”?

It is a bit of a balancing act but I would say that with the original series, it was on Nickelodeon and it was definitely for kids. And we had a lot of wiggle room because we got to work with Paramount Plus, and it’s not a kid’s show anymore. So because we got to make the show for a streaming service for Paramount Plus, that really gave us an awesome opportunity to make it more mature. A family could watch the show together but we got to actually explore what these characters’ lives would be like as actual adults. Because I think it would have been kind of strange if we came back and host just primarily a kid show now that we’re all grown up. That just wouldn’t have made a whole lot of sense. I think unlike [“Lizzie McGuire”] we got lucky just because of the platform that the new version is on.

The show has already been renewed for a second season already. How long do you see yourself playing Carly for?

I feel like we’ll probably know when it’s time [to say goodbye]. It was kind of like that with the original series, it was like, we all grew up. I just always knew I really wanted to have that college experience and I’d been doing homeschooling for so long with the show, that it just felt like the right time. And I feel like we had all grown up, we were all graduating out of high school. And I feel like it might be similar this time around. Like, maybe we’ll just feel it and know that we told this story as much as we should.

The original “iCarly” debuted in 2007 before social media had really taken off. Was it weird looking back and seeing how much technology and social media has changed?

It’s crazy how the Internet has totally changed since the original series came out. When [the producers first] came to me with the idea for “iCarly” they were like, “It’s gonna be about a girl that has a web show.” And I was like, “What’s a web show?” I was like, I don’t even know what that is. Because nobody had web shows then. I think it’s cool that it was able to kind of get ahead of the curve, in a sense, back then but it’s also fun now, because there’s so much to pull from. There wasn’t really as much to draw from back then since it didn’t exist. But now everybody has a web show or a YouTube channel or Instagram.

Next year is the 20th anniversary of “School Rock” which still has so much appeal, has inspired an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical and so on. Did you ever think people would still be talking about the film two decades later?

I definitely didn’t. I was eight or nine when I did the movie and I remember it was my first time ever going on a plane. I got to go from New York – I’m from LA – and it was just so many first experiences for me. First time being in a movie and acting. That was a crazy experience as a kid. And I think it really stuck with me because Jack Black was so nice and he made it really fun. So I’m really grateful that that was one of my first experiences in the entertainment business. It was such a fun thing to do.

Being a child actor can be a tricky path but you seem to have navigated it really well. Is there anything you credit that to in particular?

I think everybody has different experiences with child acting, and I know a lot of people look at it like it can be a really negative experience and I do feel really lucky, it was mostly positive. Nothing’s perfect, but I feel like my mom helped me a lot because she was always with me – and my dad – just my parents always being there. And originally getting into acting their intentions were for me to make enough money so that I could go to college. So I think all of that helped keep me grounded. I just felt lucky that I have them.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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