“Boy Meets World” star Matthew Lawrence recalls ‘dysfunction’ on “Girl Meets World ”set: ‘It was very weird’

Jami GanzTue, October 6, 2026 at 2:00 PM UTC

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Matthew Lawrence and Will Friedle on ‘Boy Meets World’Credit: ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via GettyKey Points -

Matthew Lawrence opened up to EW about the “strange” experience of guest-starring on Boy Meets World spinoff Girl Meets World.

Lawrence starred as Jack Hunter across three seasons of the original hit.

Jack, who was Shawn’s estranged half-brother and Eric’s beloved roommate, returned for a 2015 episode of Girl Meets World.

Matthew Lawrence wanted little to do with the “dysfunction” on the set of Girl Meets World.

The Boy Meets World alum, who starred as Jack Hunter on the show’s final three seasons, told Entertainment Weekly he had far fonder memories of his time on the ’90s coming-of-age hit than with its 2010s “retread.”

Lawrence reprised the role of Shawn’s (Rider Strong) estranged half-brother and Eric’s (Will Friedle) beloved roommate in 2015, during a season 2 episode of Disney Channel’s Girl Meets World. The episode, “Girl Meets Semi-Formal,” was also penned by Friedle.

“It was interesting, I can tell you that,” Lawrence shared with EW, while discussing his new nostalgia-centric graphic novel, The Lawrence Brothers Detective Agency. “It’s strange... There was a duality to it that was hard to put into words, because you’re back on set with the same people that you had this amazing experience with, and you did something at a very high level with. And then you’re kind of doing a retread in a strange way.”

Matthew Lawrence and Will Friedle on ‘Girl Meets World’Credit: Ron Tom/Disney Channel via Getty

Unlike Boy Meets World, which focused on Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) and those in his circle — longtime love Topanga (Danielle Fishel), best friend Shawn, and big brother, Eric — Girl Meets World centered Cory and Topanga’s daughter, Riley (Rowan Blanchard). Sabrina Carpenter also starred as Riley’s best friend, Maya.

“You’re still there with these people, but it’s now focused on the younger kids, which was a totally fine take, but it was very weird. It was very weird,” said Lawrence.

Though he thought “the kids were doing fine,” Lawrence recognized “some dysfunction” in the “adult half of the show.”

“Which really bummed me out and made me sad,” he said. “I did one [episode] and then probably wouldn’t have done more because it was just, it felt odd. It felt odd to me. There was some things going on.”

The Mrs. Doubtfire actor declined to elaborate further, noting, “I love them all, and I know they’ve all worked it out at this point.”

“There’s no sense in rehashing that,” Lawrence continued. “But there was definite— there was definitely a tug and a pull between the adults, let’s put it that way.”

Recently, during their rewatch podcast, Pod Meets World, Strong, Friedle, and Fishel shed light on the tensions surrounding the spinoff, in which they all reprised their Boy Meets World roles.

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Fishel said her role on Girl Meets World was rendered “insignificant ... because everything was given to Cory.”

Matthew Lawrence in November 2025Credit: Vivien Killilea/Getty

Strong, who even directed 18 episodes of Girl Meets World, recountedstorylines that he and his costars-turned-cohosts found “troubling” and “inappropriate.”

Fishel also recently claimed that Michael Jacobs, who co-created both shows with April Kelly, refused to hire female writers for Girl Meets World.

During an appearance on the We’re Still Here Babe podcast, Friedle and Strong said that they first learned of the sequel “on the news.”

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“They didn’t tell us Girl Meets World was happening,” recalled Friedle.

“No one told us...” Strong added, nothing that he was totally in the dark when he “started getting texts from people being like, ‘Congrats.’”

Strong admitted to Lawrence’s Brotherly Love podcast earlier this year that he was initially “against” the latter joining Boy Meets World.

Will Friedle and Matthew Lawrence on ‘Boy Meets World’Credit: ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

“You guys were like the established Hollywood people,” Strong shared with Lawrence, who hosts the podcast with his brothers, Joey and Andrew Lawrence. “You were the very successful set of brothers who had become superstars and done all this stuff. So for us, I think there was a sense of like, ‘Oh God, the Lawrences are coming.’”

The Lawrence brothers took the confession in stride and laughed. Strong clarified that his trepidation was largely based on “your reputation as a family,” but came around to his new castmate “once we talked to you, hung out” and “totally got to know you.”

The trio are taking that reputation as ’90s royalty and expanding on it with The Lawrence Brothers Detective Agency. Written by Joey, Matt, and Andrew Lawrence, as well as the Berkowitz Brothers, and Brian Yuran, the graphic novel sees the titular trio trying to find missing stars of the nineties. Cameos on the page include those from Friedle, Raven-Symoné, and more.

on Entertainment Weekly

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