'iCarly' Reboot: Where's Jennette McCurdy?

Nickelodeon fans were thrilled to hear that iCarly was the latest beloved show getting the revival [...]

By Alyssa Fikse

Nickelodeon fans were thrilled to hear that iCarly was the latest beloved show getting the revival treatment, with a new series headed to the upcoming Paramount+ streaming service. Most of the original main cast is set to return, with Miranda Cosgrove, Jerry Trainor, and Nathan Kress posing together on set to confirm their involvement. However, one significant person is noticeably absent: Jennette McCurdy. McCurdy played Carly's best friend and sidekick, Sam, and eventually got her own spin off, Sam & Cat.

McCurdy so far has not commented on the upcoming revival and appears to not be involved in any capacity. However, if you know a little bit of McCurdy's life as a child star and beyond, this isn't that surprising.

After Sam & Cat ended in 2014, McCurdy acted on and off in small roles. Her mother died in 2013, she turned to alcohol to cope. In a 2020 interview with Elite Daily, McCurdy admitted that her time as a child star left her without the emotional tools to cope with her grief in a healthy way. She quit acting altogether in 2016. "I had to kind of fight the demons on my own time," McCurdy said. "I went dark. I went off of social media. I quit acting. I had to make these pretty big life decisions in order to deal with my stuff, my life."

McCurdy revealed in a personal essay on Huffington Post in 2019 that her time on Nickelodeon caused her to develop an eating disorder and that she resented a lot of her time on iCarly and Sam & Cat. McCurdy wrote in the essay that she was uncomfortable with the idea that she was considered a "role model" and didn't love the fact that her "great contribution" to society was "walking onto an over-lit Nickelodeon set shouting lines about fried chicken."

McCurdy explained to Elite Daily that "a lot of therapy" has gotten her to a much better place, but that her memories about her time as a child actress are complex, to say the least. "I'm not fully there yet," McCurdy admitted. "I still have complicated feelings toward my past from my experience with Nickelodeon. It's something that I work on. I'd like to get to a place of peace with my past. That would be great."

Still, McCurdy credits iCarly for bringing her "lifelong" friendships with the main cast and crew. "I would not have such an enjoyable life if these people weren't in it," she said. "The human connections you have with people is always what determines whether, ultimately, something is a good or bad experience."

McCurdy may have quit acting in the traditional sense, but she is still creative. She wrote a one-woman show called I'm Glad My Mom Died that got postponed by COVID that she has plans to perform once it's safe to do so. She also hosts a podcast called Empty Inside.

Disclosure: PopCulture is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of ViacomCBS.

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