Fred Savage Talks ‘Core DNA’ of New ‘Wonder Years’ Reimagining Series (Exclusive)

Fred Savage became a household name from the time he starred as Kevin Arnold on The Wonder Years. Now, the actor has taken on the role of Executive Producer on the new Wonder Years on ABC, where he says the series has the same “core DNA” as its acclaimed and beloved predecessor. While speaking exclusively with PopCulture.com — alongside his brother Ben, from Boys Meets World — Savage explained that the new ABC series is meant to “build” on the groundwork laid by his series late ’80s series.

“It’s something that we’ve kept kind of the core DNA of the first Wonder Years,” Savage said, referring to why they use the term “reimagining” to define the new series. “It’s a story. It’s kind of a first-person narrative about a guy looking back on his childhood. Our narrator is Don Cheadle and is looking back on his adolescence, growing up as a 12-year-old in 1968. So that core DNA is the same only this time it’s a brand new family. It’s a completely different family, takes place in Montgomery, Alabama. And I think like any great reimagining, it takes something that, like Ben was saying, something that’s familiar, something that we all know and recognizes, and then builds on that original thing.”

The Wonder Years ran for six seasons on ABC, premiering in 1988 and ending its iconic run in 1992. In addition to Savage, the series also starred Dan Lauria, Alley Mills, Olivia d’Abo, Jason Hervey, Danica McKellar, and Josh Saviano, with narration by Daniel Stern. The new series on ABC stars Elisha “EJ” Williams as Dean Williams, the young boy whose eyes we see life through this time around. The series also stars Dulé Hill, Saycon Sengbloh, Laura Kariuki, Amari O’Neil, Julian Lerner and Milan Ray.

Tying the Wonder Years reimagining into the new Goldfish Mega Bites partnership the brothers have joined forces for, Savage adds, “I think that with this new re-imagining of The Wonder Years and the good people of Goldfish have done the same with Mega Bites, which just takes something that we all know and love and remember and build on it and do something even bigger and bolder.”

He continued: “So it just seemed like this fit between what Ben [my brother] did with Girl Meets World, built on something familiar and created something new. I’m doing it to Wonder Years. They’re doing it with Goldfish. So it seemed like a very natural partnership.” 

Fans can stream all six seasons of the original Wonder Years series on Hulu, as well as new episodes of the reimagining on its streaming platform.