The actress previously said working on the 'Boy Meets World' reboot was “very difficult"
Credit: Cindy Ord/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Danielle Fishel discussed her experience working with child actors on Girl Meets World at the premiere of Doc Meets World
- The documentary features Fishel, Rider Strong and Will Friedle discussing their experiences making the 1993–2000 ABC sitcom Boy Meets World
- Girl Meets World ran on the Disney Channel from 2014 to 2017
Danielle Fishel has a special bond with her Girl Meets World costars that continues to this day.
Fishel, 45, was only 12 years old when she began playing Topanga Lawrence on Boy Meets World. She reprised her role in the sequel series 14 years later, as well as serving as a producer and director.
While speaking with PEOPLE at the Tribeca Festival premiere of Doc Meets World, she recalled feeling protective of the young actors on the reboot due to her own experience in front of the camera as a child actor.
“It was important to me because I know there were a lot of people who did really look out for me on Boy Meets World, and yet there are moments in the show as Topanga where I feel like there were better options for storylines for her,” Fishel said.
Credit: Ron Tom/Disney Channel via Getty
“I just really wanted Girl Meets World to focus, especially in this day and age, on something other than romantic relationships. I wanted it to focus on interests, goals, education and friendship, above all else,” she continued.
In the Disney Channel reboot, which ran for three seasons from 2014 to 2017, Topanga and Ben Savage’s Cory Matthews were parents to teenager Riley Matthews (Rowan Blanchard). Fishel, who is now a mom of two, said not having kids when she joined the show worried her initially.
"I was a little nervous when I started Girl Meets World because I didn't have kids of my own yet, and I thought, ‘Am I going to know how to be a mother?' " the actress admitted.
However, Fishel felt an immediate connection to her young costars.
“The minute I met that cast, I was like, 'Oh, these are all my children. They're all mine.' And I still, to this day, feel that way about them,” she says.
Credit: Cindy Ord/Getty
Girl Meets World also starred Sabrina Carpenter, Peyton Meyer and Corey Fogelmanis.
Several cast members from the original series reprised their roles in addition to Fishel and Savage, including Rider Strong, Will Friedle and William Daniels. Michael Jacobs and April Kelly also returned as co-creators.
In February 2025, Fishel said working on the reboot was “very difficult" on an episode of her Pod Meets World podcast that she co-hosts with Strong and Friedle.
“The memories we have of the fun set of Boy Meets World were not the memories or the fun set of Girl Meets World. It just wasn’t. I went into it hoping it was going to be. I went into it expecting it to be, and it wasn't,” she said, adding that she felt “very ostracized" during filming.
Fishel, Friedle and Strong candidly reflect on starring on Boy Meets World and their experiences with fame at an early age in their new documentary, Doc Meets World. The 84-minute feature follows the longtime friends as they reunite for their hit rewatch podcast and embark on a national tour.
The trio participated in a post-screening conversation at the premiere, where they shared advice they would give to their younger selves.
“I would probably tell myself that the most important work you're doing, over the next seven years, is not only in front of the camera. It's all of the moments behind the camera and with these people, and to not take them for granted,” Fishel said.
Strong said he would tell his younger self that “just because you're having success on Boy Meets World doesn't mean you can't also do other things.”
Friedle, meanwhile, added that he’d encourage his younger self to “just relax and enjoy yourself.”
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“Everything is so important when you're a kid. It's like, ‘Whatever's happening to you right now is life and death.’ And really when you get older, you look back and you go, ‘It's not,’” he said.
Doc Meets World premiered at the Tribeca Festival on June 6.
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