It has officially been confirmed: Disney has signed on to make a pilot of Girl Meets World, the long-awaited sequel series to ABC’s Boy Meets World, which ran from 1993 to 2000, following the life of Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) as he grows from a slacker sixth grader to husband of Topanga Lawrence (Danielle Fishel).
The show has been designed to follow the daughter of Cory and Topanga, with Savage and Fishel signing on as her parents. Although this is what we are all hoping for, nothing has been confirmed as of yet.
Although the couple never had a child on screen, there have been a couple episodes that hinted there was a possibility of a pregnant Topanga, specifically with a baby girl. There are two instances in which this occurs in the last few episodes of the series, but the two do not coincide.
In episode 16 of the final season, “Seven the Hard Way (Part 2),” the gang flash forwards to George Feeny’s (William Daniels) retirement party in the year 2006. Cory announces that a few months ago Topanga and himself celebrated the birth of their first child, a daughter named Beverly Glen.
In the episode immediately following, entitled, “She’s Having My Baby Back Ribs,” Eric and Topanga both begin to gain weight, and vow to go on a diet together. One morning when Topanga doesn’t fit into a pair of pants that she thinks are hers, but wind up being Cory’s, she claims, “I’m feeling a bit nauseous this morning.” Cory and Shawn (Rider Strong), dopey best friends as always, try putting a reason to why Topanga’s acting the way she is, and Cory announces, “I can’t be a father. I’ve got a paper due on Friday!” Nothing much comes of the episode.
Now, we know that Girl Meets World is presenting us with a pre-teen daughter. In the first scenario, if baby girl Matthews was born in 2006, she would only be six years old. Doesn’t work. If she was born while the couple was still in college, that would make sense. So maybe we’ll discover that Topanga really was pregnant in episode 17, as opposed to simple gaining some weight. We may just have to wait and see whether or not the child’s name is Beverly Glen (but we sure hope not.)
In terms of how the show will turn out, there’s a lot to be cautious of. The show originally aired on ABC, not the Disney Channel, which could cause some issues to arise. One great aspect of the beloved television show was the way it handled not only teenage romance, but also delicate subjects such as those that surrounded Shawn’s life. Hopefully producer Michael Jacobs, who also produced the original Boy Meets World, will preserve those characteristics. Jacobs is currently working on casting.
Changing the idea of the show, as opposed to simply writing up a reunion-type series, has the chance to take the show to another level. It also opens up opportunities for cameo roles that will get every 90s child’s heart racing, such as bringing back Cory’s older brother Eric (Will Friedle) and other members of the Matthew’s family. We’d all love to see where they have wound up.
Most importantly, we hope that Disney will be able to tear Daniels away from Grey’s Anatomy long enough to teach young Matthews a thing or two as the beloved Mr. Feeny. Some things should never change.

By Taylor Zimmerman