'Raven's Home': Rondell Sheridan on the Show's Lasting Impact (Exclusive)
Raven's Home is back for Season 5 and Rondell Sheridan couldn't be happier to be reunited with his longtime TV daughter, Raven-Symone. A spinoff of the classic Disney Channel series That's So Raven, the Disney+ reboot follows Raven Baxter (Raven-Symoné) and her son Booker (Isaac Ryan Brown). Booker inherited his mom's psychic gift. This season, Sheridan, who stars as Victor Baxter, reunites with Raven as she returns home to San Francisco to help tend to him as he recovers from a mild heart attack.
It's a role that Sheridan basks in. The standup comedian has been working consistently since the early '80s and is best known for his family-friendly roles in series like Cousin Skeeter and Cory in the House, a spinoff of That's So Raven. He admits with pride that the Raven franchise is what gets him recognized the most.
PopCulture.com spoke with Sheridan about how the show continues to find new footing, what he's most hopeful for viewers to see, and the international impact the show has made. Read the full interview below and watch the interview above. Season 5 of Raven's Home premieres via Disney Channel and DisneyNOW on March 11.
PC: Raven's Home is back for season five. Why do you think that the show has registered so much with fans that it came back? Not only did it come back, but now we're in the fifth installment of this?
Sheridan: I just think that people can't get enough of Raven-Symone. And then you add the fact that we're now in familiar territory from the original episode. We go back to the house with the kitchen, we go back to the classroom, and it gives you the warm and fuzzies all over again with that show. We have new characters, but it's the same feel of the show, and it's just fun.
It's also the difference of going from That's So Raven, going to Cory in the House, and now we're at Raven's Home, fifth season. It's like your mom's pound cake or peach cobbler, where you're like, "Man, I want some of that old stuff," and bam, it's there. If you just happen to watch this show, and you forget what happened the last two years, you're going to go, "Wait, we're in the same house? We're in the same? Yeah, it's that." That should put a smile on your face, and then nothing's changed.
What are you most excited for fans to see for this season as the characters' growth and the development. And, obviously, there are new characters as well.
We have three new characters on the show: Emmy, Felix and Mimi. They're just phenomenal, and they act so much to the show. I'm going to let everybody enjoy it in their own way because I don't want to give anything away about the characters. But the fact that I get to play with Raven again, which is great. We have such a great shorthand comedy-wise. I'm loving where the stories are going. So I'm now reading the script as a fan. Before, I was just immersed in the script when we were doing That's So Raven, just like, "Okay, this is what we're doing." But now, there's a lot of scenes in which there's a history and backstory in the scene. So when you're fans of the previous show, now watching the show where it's grounded and back in San Francisco, you'll know things. You'll be like, "Oh." And that, to me, is the best part.
How important has this role been in your career personally and professionally? Because, oftentimes, we don't get to see such a positive image of a Black family and a Black father. And you have played in this role for as long as you have.
There's so many layers to that question. I didn't realize how impactful this show was until – I travel more than anybody else in the cast. I'm a stand-up comic. I've worked all over. I remember being in Brazil, I was in Rio de Janeiro, on Ipanema Beach, and I wore my normal clothes that I wear when I go out. I had a baseball cap and had glasses. This is pre-pandemic, so this is all you can see of my face. And there was a little hut on the beach, and I wanted a soda. And so, I pointed to the soda and I went – I had some Brazilian money – and I held it out, and the guy took the money, and I turned and there was a couple there, and they go, "Raven." I had not said a word, and they went, "Raven."
And I was in Hong Kong, major intersection, where there's 9, 10 different intersections. That scene where you always see when people are crossing, massive amounts of people cross. And then, the lights change and cars go. I'm standing there. I remember standing there. I'm in Hong Kong. My first thought was, "I am the tallest person in Hong Kong." I was thinking that. "I am the tallest person." And there were two little school girls next to me, and they looked up at me and said, "Raven," and I go, "Wow."
And two or three times I've been in South Africa, the love from there is just incredible. And it just made me realize how much that show [has registered]. And now the continuous line of that show is celebrated all over the world. And to be part of something like that is something I could not have fathomed at the very beginning.