‘iCarly’ Reboot: Will Jennette McCurdy’s Character Sam Puckett Be Part Of Revival Series?

The “iCarly” reboot cast has decided to address the elephant in the room ahead of the show’s premiere on Paramount+ later this month — whether or not Jennette McCurdy’s character, Sam Puckett, would still be part of the modern-day storyline of the series.

Miranda Cosgrove, Nathan Kress and Jerry Trainor recently did a virtual promotional interview with Entertainment Tonight. And during the exclusive chat with the news outlet, the stars of the upcoming reboot opened up about Sam’s status seeing as the revival will feature an up-to-date storyline on their characters.

When ET’s Leanne Aguilera asked the trio if McCurdy’s character would still be part of the series, they gave an affirmative response, before confirming that Sam’s absence would be tackled in the first episode of the show without spilling too much on how the writers made it work.

“Yeah, definitely. We talk a lot about the Sam character and where she is in the pilot episode. And Carly very much still loves Sam and always will,” Cosgrove said.

The actress, who plays Carly Shay, then went on to share that they had hoped McCurdy would be part of the reboot as well.

“And we all really wanted Jennette to be a part of the show in real life. But she's just doing other things and we're really happy for her,” Cosgrove said of her former co-star.

It should be noted, however, that McCurdy is simply not doing the show just because she has other commitments. Back in March, the former Nickelodeon star announced her retirement from acting on the Season 2 premiere of her podcast, “Empty Inside,” adding that she “resented” her career.

“I feel so unfulfilled by the roles that I played and felt like it was the most just cheesy, embarrassing… I imagine there’s a very different experience to be had with acting if you’re proud of your roles,” she was quoted as saying by Variety at the time.

Trainor told Aguilera that although they are going to address Sam’s absence in the pilot episode of the reboot, they won’t go into detail regarding her whereabouts. He also noted that McCurdy would always be part of the “iCarly” family, and they respect her decision to not join the reboot.

“The pilot touches on [Sam's absence]. It will be addressed, but it's not something that we go too deep into just because we just want to respect Jennette's wishes. You know, she's decided to move on from acting and she's doing great in her own world and we're super proud of her," he said.

“And she's part of this family forever. But that sort of gives us space to get new characters in and have new unexpected storylines and voices,” he added.

When asked if they would be pleased to welcome back McCurdy if she were to agree to do an episode for the show, the trio quickly said yes. Cosgrove even pointed out that the “elevator door is always open” for McCurdy. Kress then quipped, “It never closed.”

The “iCarly” reboot is set to premiere on Paramount+ on June 17 with the first three episodes of the series. Subsequent episodes would be added weekly after that.