Will Friedle Explains Why He Joined ‘Boy Meets World’ Spinoff Despite Initially Refusing (Exclusive)

Will Friedle had no intention of saying “yes” to joining the Boy Meets World spinoff, Girl Meets World — especially after producer Michael Jacobs told him he couldn’t write for the show. Thankfully, something changed.

“We made a deal,” Friedle, 49, exclusively told Us Weekly at the Doc Meets World premiere red carpet at the Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday, June 6. “If I came back on camera and did three episodes, then I could write it. So, we did a little, a little trading.”

Friedle, who did end up writing a couple episodes of the show, recalled the moment he learned of the Boy Meets World spinoff.

“I wasn’t going to do it, and not only because of the acting [and my anxiety] but I found out about GMW when, like, CNN called and asked for a comment,” he explained in Doc Meets World. “And [Jacobs] said you can do whatever on the show, and I said, ‘I want to be a writer,’ and he was like, ‘You can’t do that.’”

More than a decade after Boy Meets World came to an end in 2000, the spinoff premiered on Disney Channel and followed Cory (Ben Savage) and Topanga (Danielle Fishel)’s daughter, Riley Matthews. Girl Meets World ultimately aired from 2014 to 2017.

Five years later, Friedle teamed up with Fishel and Boy Meets World costar Rider Strong for a podcast titled “Pod Meets World.” The group rewatches episodes of Boy Meets World, providing commentary alongside various guests — including their former costars.

Days before the Tribeca Film Festival, Friedle got candid about having a “crush” on Fishel.

“I told you, years later, I had a crush on you, Danielle,” Friedle said during the Thursday, June 4, episode of their “Pod Meets World” podcast. “Years later, I almost asked you out.”

Fishel, however, shared that she “never knew” about Friedle’s crush before he admitted his feelings to her.

“This was like … 2005, [2006], something like that. It wasn’t long after Boy, and we were all hanging out again a little bit,” Friedle clarified of what he felt with Fishel.

“I remember there was one time where we were hanging out, and … I was single and Danielle was single. I was like, ‘Oh, that might be interesting to entertain,’” he continued, sharing that he never pursued a relationship with Fishel. “There would have been a weirdness to it.”

After Strong told his podcast cohosts that their lack of relationship was for the best, Friedle agreed.

“It would have been a whole different podcast, I’m sure, at that point,” he said. “And she wouldn’t have met [her husband Jensen Harp], and I wouldn’t have met [his wife Susan Martens]. And, yeah, we wouldn’t have been happy.”

With reporting by Proma Khosla