Always prepared. Ben Savage is ready to return as Cory Matthews should Disney ever decide to expand the Boy Meets World universe.
“I’ve learned enough to know that you literally never know what can happen in this business,” the 41-year-old told Us Weekly exclusively earlier this month while promoting his partnership with Goldfish alongside brother Fred Savage.
Ben continued, adding, “Every day is a roller-coaster, and it’s always exciting. So, I say never say never.”
The original Boy Meets World ran from 1993 to 2000 on ABC, following Ben’s character from middle school to college. He returned as the lovable Cory Matthews in Girl Meets World, the Disney Channel spinoff centered on Cory’s daughter, Riley Matthews (Rowan Blanchard), and her best friend Maya Hart (Sabrina Carpenter), as they navigated adolescence from 2014 to 2017.
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Cory was Riley and Maya’s teacher, leaving an easy way to reinvent the show should it ever return with a new class of students. Ben’s character was still happily married to Topanga (Danielle Fishel), and their home life allowed opportunities for many veteran cast members to drop by.
Their lasting marriage left the Love, Lights, Hannukah! actor satisfied. “I think Cory was very lucky to end up with Topanga, but I was very happy to see that relationship develop,” Ben told Us.
The high school sweethearts don’t have love from all the fans, the former child star noted. “Some people feel very strongly that she should not have chosen me and should have gone off to Yale,” the actor said, recalling the story line where Topanga turned down her acceptance to the Ivy League school to be with her childhood love.
Ben isn’t too upset about any lingering backlash — he’s just happy fans still care. “I think Fred and I are both just very happy that people are so emotionally invested in the show that they care that much,” he explained. “That’s the most important and flattering part of this whole thing.”
Fred, 45, added, “Sometimes there’s a real one in a million [love story], and Cory and Topanga were definitely that one in a million couple.”
While Boy Meets World showed a childhood crush evolving into true love, Fred’s The Wonder Years (1988 to 1993) took the opposite route, showing Kevin (Fred) and Winnie (Danica McKellar) remaining friends but not romantically involved.
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“I don’t know who ends up with their first love, their first crush at 12,” the director told Us. “And I think that’s one of the things that is so special about childhood and heartbreaking about looking back at your experience as a kid … It feels true. And I think the fact that people are still broken up about it means that maybe the right choice was made.”
Like Ben, Fred was also a child star, rising to fame in The Wonder Years and The Princess Bride. However, even Hollywood stars love their Goldfish. Fred and Ben recalled eating the snack that smiles back throughout their childhood while promoting their partnership with the brand’s new Mega Bites.
“We grew up eating Goldfish, like everybody, and then I’m a father of three, so they were raised on Goldfish — and I can attest that by all the Goldfish dust and crumbs we would pick out of the between the car seats when they were little,” Fred, who shares Oliver, 15, Lily, 13, and Auggie, 9, with wife Jennifer Lynn Stone, quipped.
The executive producer of ABC’s Wonder Years reboot continued, calling Goldfish, “such a part of my past, such a part of my present,” and explaining that the new Mega Bites are great for adults. “They’re bigger, they’re bolder, they’re cheesier,” the director said. “It’s, like, perfect for a grown-up to dive into.”
Ben added, “They are delicious, and we’ve all been enjoying them.”
The best part of working with the baked cracker company, however, was getting “a really fun opportunity to work with my brother,” Ben said.
Goldfish Mega Bites are in stores now.