Nickelodeon’siCarlywas one of the biggest kid sitcoms of the late 2000s and early 2010s. Hailing fromnow-disgraced hitmaker Dan Schneider, the series regularly averaged millions of viewers per week as Nickelodeon’s flagship live-action series. With that success, it’s no surprise that a series revival was ordered in 2020 for the then-upcoming Paramount+ service.
The revival followed Miranda Cosgrove’s Carly, Nathan Kress’s Freddie, and Jerry Trainor’s Spencer as they dealt with adult life a decade after the original series wrapped. TheiCarlyrevival was unique in that it was not geared toward a young Nickelodeon-aged audience. Instead, it aimed at the fans who grew up with the old show, tackling mature and adult topics.
The newiCarlywas a hit, and it enjoyed a three-season run on Paramount+ before it was unceremoniously canceled in October 2023. Not only that, it ended on what wasperhaps the biggest cliffhangerin the franchise’s history. Now, star and EPCosgrove has hinted that a follow-up movie is in the workswhich would address the cliffhanger and bring the series to an appropriate end. But how real is this possibility? And if it is happening, what could we see?
iCarly’s Original Run and Revival
iCarlyfirst premiered on Nickelodeon in 2007. Cosgrove, fresh off her memorable turn onDrake & Josh, brought the titular character to life alongside co-stars Kress, Trainor, and Jennette McCurdy. Dan Schneider’s sixth Nickelodeon show quickly took off in popularity, withthe highest-rated episodes exceeding a massive 10 million total viewers. That appeal was due in large part to the then-uniqueness of the subject matter. In 2007, YouTube was still in its infancy, and content creation was not something anyone could pull off like today. For kids, seeing someone their age gain overnight worldwide fame without any help from outside sources was almost unheard of.
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iCarly’s revival was announcedin December 2020 for Paramount+, with Cosgrove, Kress, and Trainor signing on to return. McCurdy did not, as she had since retired from acting. The new show follows Carly Shay a decade later when she’s lost her mojo in an era when anyone can be an online influencer. She restarts her web show with help from best friend Freddie, brother Spencer, and new friend and roommate Harper.
iCarlywas a hit all over again as fans of the original watched their childhood favorites swear while discussing sex and alcohol. In the third season,the revival finally settled the will-they or won’t-they between Carly and Freddiethat had persisted for a decade and a half. The two finallyconfessed their feelingsfor one another and got together. In the last moments of the finale, it looked as though they might even spontaneously marry before the cancelation cut all that short. But that wasn’t the only cliffhanger.
The iCarly Cancelation and Major Cliffhanger
Throughout the original show and revival, Carly and Spencer’s mother was never once mentioned. Their dad was away in the military, leading to Spencer acting as Carly’s legal guardian. That all changed in the revival’s finale when Carly sees her estranged mother arrive offscreen at the wedding venue.With the cancelationlater that year,this moment now serves as the last shot of theiCarlyfranchise.
As expected, a #SaveiCarly campaign was mounted online almost immediately after the cancelation was announced. Furious fans took to social media to express their outrage at the cancelation just as the show was about to answer a 16-year-long mystery. While Paramount+ didn’t budge, star Miranda Cosgrove has given some hope to despairing viewers.
A few months after the cancelation, Cosgrove stated that she’d like to have the chance to produceaniCarlymoviethat could resolve the cliffhanger and bring the characters' story to a close. Later, she upped her confidence to say, “I’m pretty sure it’s gonna happen” in regards to a movie. While nothing’s official yet, Cosgrove has a lot of pull as a star and executive producer. If she lobbies hard enough, there’s a good chance we’ll see these characters again. But what would a movie look like?
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Number one,we have to meet Carly and Spencer’s motherand learn why she abandoned them. Several names of who could play the mother have floated around, with Courteney Cox as a top pick among some fans. Maybe they could also bring back the Shays' dad, who appeared in the original show’s series finale, to make the family whole again. Whatever Carly’s mother put them through musthave been traumatic, as she didn’t say as much as her name in almost 20 years. How did that abandonment shape Carly and Spencer into the people they are, and is that the reason Spencer was so overprotective of Carly in the original series?
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A movie doesn’t necessarily have to focus just on the Shay mother. Remember, Carly and Freddie were about to marry before her mom walked in. Will they still tie the knot? Up until that moment, both were still unsure of exactly what they wanted out of their long-term romantic prospects.We should be given a clear answer from both characters about their future together.That is, if they want the same things or not. It’s unlikely that Carly and Freddie will split, as the payoff from their finally getting together would be wasted. Instead, a movie should find a path forward for both that feels honest for the characters and respects what the fans want.
Since a follow-up movie would wrap the characters' stories for good, we wouldn’t have the chance of another cliffhanger ending. So where would all these characters end up? Beyond Carly and Freddie, how does Spencer finish his story? New characters Harper and Millicent, Freddie’s stepdaughter, have also become part of the gang, so a satisfying resolution to their arcs is a must.
While Jennette McCurdyalmost certainly wouldn’t appear, perhaps we could get an offscreen update from Sam. Maybe she sends Carly and Freddie congratulations while telling us where she is in life. It also might be fun to hear from other main characters from the original who did not return for the revival, like Gibby and T-Bo. In any case, fans have followed these characters for nearly two decades, and they deserve a satisfying end to their stories.iCarlyis streaming onParamount+.
