In the world of Nickelodeon, Dan Schneider is basically a god among men. The hit writer, director, and producer has created past hits All That, Kenan & Kel, Drake & Josh, along with current running hits iCarly and Victorious. With iCarly coming to an end later this year, it’s clear that Schneider would love to continue creating content for the network (especially seeing how the creative mind usually runs two series at a time). But now it seems the writer wants to go for a little bit of the familiar and continue the stories of three favorite characters on two potential new series.
EW reports that Nickelodeon has greenlit two pilots to move into production for possible pick-up, each featuring characters from iCarly and Victorious in their own stand-alone series.
One pilot would actually reunite two characters from both series in the new Sam & Cat. The comedy would follow iCarly‘s Sam Puckett (Jennette McCurdy) and Victorious‘ Cat Valentine (Ariana Grande) finding themselves as roommates and having to gain money by starting a babysitting business in order to stay afloat. The other pilot called Gibby would feature iCarly‘s titular character played by Noah Munck as he is able to score a job at a local rec center where “he winds up as a mentor to four middle school students”.
With Victorious currently not renewed for a fourth season, the series’ fate currently hangs in the balance despite many believing that the show will easily continue forward. If it does, there’s a good chance that Grande’s Cat will be written out of the series and in the process squashing some fans’ hopes that she and fellow supporting character Robbie may enter a relationship. As of right now nothing is confirmed, especially with both spin-offs simply in the pilot stage.
The news also comes on the heels of iCarly star Jerry Trainor staying in the network family as his new series Wendell & Vinnie received a 20-episode first season order to be aired during Nick at Nite. The series will also star The King Of Queens‘ Nicole Sullivan, while this will be Trainor’s first true main character role. The new show follows “Vinnie, a lovable, goofball uncle who becomes the guardian to his buttoned-up 12-year-old nephew Wendell (Buddy Handleson of Shake It Up)”.
If successful, this certainly wouldn’t be the first children’s television spin-off to hit a network (if we can all take a moment and remember the dreadful Cory in the House). But, both series could be the first live-action spin-off ever to come from Nickelodeon. The previous two spin-offs that the network has produced come from animated series Rugrats and Avatar: The Last Airbender in the form of All Grown Up and The Legend of Korra, respectively.
iCarly will be finishing its fifth and final season this November with a number of monumental episodes. Jimmy Fallon is said to be guest starring in an undetermined episode, while Carly’s father will be seen for the first time in the series’ run. Schneider and star Miranda Cosgrove previous revealed they wanted Tom Hanks for the role, but it’s unclear just whether or not the Oscar-winner will be showing up. Among the final episodes, two of them have been announced to be hour-long specials.
So what do you think of the two possible spin-offs?
