Matthew Lawrence is opening up about the "dysfunction" he witnessed behind the scenes of Girl Meets World, the Disney Channel sequel to the beloved '90s sitcom Boy Meets World. In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actor — who played Jack Hunter on the original series — described his 2015 return to the spinoff's set as "very weird" and said the experience left him sad enough that he would not have come back for more episodes.
What Matthew Lawrence Said About the Girl Meets World Set
Lawrence reprised his role as Jack Hunter — Shawn's (Rider Strong) estranged half-brother and Eric's (Will Friedle) beloved college roommate — in the season 2 Girl Meets World episode "Girl Meets Semi-Formal," which also happened to be written by Friedle. Speaking to EW while promoting his new nostalgia-themed graphic novel, The Lawrence Brothers Detective Agency, he contrasted the spinoff with his fond memories of the original show.
"It was interesting, I can tell you that. 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."
He added that the show's shift in focus felt jarring: "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."
While he felt "the kids were doing fine," Lawrence said he recognized "some dysfunction" in the "adult half of the show" — something that "really bummed me out and made me sad." He declined to name names or elaborate further, saying, "I love them all, and I know they've all worked it out at this point. There's no sense in rehashing that. But there was definite — there was definitely a tug and a pull between the adults, let's put it that way."
Why Matthew Lawrence Didn't Return to the Disney Spinoff
The actor confirmed that his single appearance was a deliberate choice. "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," he told EW.
Boy Meets World aired for seven seasons from 1993 to 2000, following Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) and his circle — longtime love Topanga (Danielle Fishel), best friend Shawn, and brother Eric. Girl Meets World ran for three seasons from 2014 to 2017, centered on Cory and Topanga's daughter Riley (Rowan Blanchard) and her best friend Maya (Sabrina Carpenter).
Girl Meets World Tensions Go Beyond One Interview
Lawrence is not the first Boy Meets World alum to speak candidly about the spinoff. On their Pod Meets World rewatch podcast, Rider Strong, Will Friedle, and Danielle Fishel — all of whom reprised their roles — have discussed friction around the sequel series. Fishel said her role was rendered "insignificant ... because everything was given to Cory," and she also claimed that co-creator Michael Jacobs refused to hire female writers on Girl Meets World. Strong, who directed 18 episodes of the spinoff, recounted storylines the trio found "troubling" and "inappropriate."
In a separate revelation, Friedle and Strong said on the We're Still Here Babe podcast that they first learned Girl Meets World was happening "on the news" — "They didn't tell us," Friedle said.
Meanwhile, Lawrence is channeling the '90s nostalgia into new work. The Lawrence Brothers Detective Agency, the graphic novel he wrote with brothers Joey and Andrew Lawrence, follows the trio hunting for missing stars of the nineties, with cameos from Friedle, Raven-Symoné, and others.
The Takeaway
Matthew Lawrence's candid remarks add another chapter to the growing picture that the magic of Boy Meets World was harder to recapture on the Girl Meets World set. His comments remain measured — he emphasized affection for his former colleagues and insisted there's "no sense in rehashing" old tensions — but the "tug and a pull between the adults" he described offers fans a rare, honest glimpse behind Disney Channel's sequel to a classic.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Life of Riley (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0