A nostalgic follow-up to one of Nickelodeon’s most beloved comedies is in the works at Netflix
Netflix confirms long-awaited spin-off to hit Nickelodeon series(Image: NICKELODEON)
Netflix has just announced a highly anticipated spin-off to one of the most popular classic Nickelodeon shows over a decade after it came to an end.
The original series ran for four smash-hit seasons and introduced young fans to several major stars, including one of the world’s biggest pop icons.
Now, filming is currently underway in Vancouver for Hollywood Arts, which will return fans to the world of Victorious.
Starring the likes of Victoria Justice, Elizabeth Gillies and Wicked’s Ariana Grande, the original series took place at an elite performing arts high school where ambitious teens learn the ropes of showbiz.
Original star Daniella Monet, who starred as Trina Vega, the older sister of Justice’s Tori, will reprise her role for the long-awaited follow-up.
Several years after the events of the series, Trina still hasn’t gotten her big break, so she heads back to her alma mater to teach a new generation of fame-hungry students.
Monet shared via Tudum: “Coming back as Trina alongside such a dynamic, powerful cast of newcomers is something I feel very lucky and grateful to do.
“Victorious was in a lot of ways life-changing for all of us. Our cast is forever bonded by that experience, and to think that I have an opportunity to steward anything close to that is a feeling I can’t begin to describe.”
A synopsis reads: “Trina is back at Hollywood Arts High School, and this time she’s stepping behind the desk.
“The struggling performer finds herself filling in as a substitute teacher at the prestigious school, where she surprises herself by inspiring a group of ambitious teens.”
Joining Monet is a talented crop of up-and-coming stars, including Alyssa Miles (Hanging out with Alyssa and Xavier), Emmy Liu-Wang (Raven’s Home), Peyton Jackson (Woman in the Yard), Erika Swayze (Workin’ Moms) and Martin Kamm (Unsung Hero).
Plus, Community’s Yvette Nicole Brown will also be making a guest appearance as Principal Helen, having appeared during Victorious’ original run as well as Nickelodeon’s equally beloved teen comedy, Drake and Josh.
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Jake Farrow (Victorious, iCarly) and Samantha Martin (Henry Danger, Danger Force) will be showrunning and executive producing, and Monet is also on board as an exec. producer.
An exact release date has yet to be revealed, but Netflix has confirmed Hollywood Arts will be dropping its first season in 2026.
In the meantime, streamers can currently catch up with every episode of the original series while they wait for the sequel.
You don’t have to be afraid to put your dream in action, because you’ll never fade, Trina Vega, you’ll be the main attraction — in a “Victorious” spinoff.
Netflix announced Friday that “Hollywood Arts,” a spinoff of the Nickelodeon teen sitcom following a group of students attending a performing arts high school, is now in production. The new show will see Daniella Monet reprise her Trina role from the original series, which aired for four seasons on the kid-centric network.
“Coming back as Trina alongside such a dynamic, powerful cast of newcomers is something I feel very lucky and grateful to do,” Monet said in a news release, which announced the “Hollywood Arts” cast will also include young actors Alyssa Miles, Emmy Liu-Wang, Peyton Jackson, Martin Kamm and Erika Swayze.
“‘Victorious’ was in a lot of ways life changing for all of us, our cast is forever bonded by that experience, and to think that I have an opportunity to steward anything close to that is a feeling I can’t begin to describe,” Monet continued. “As an actress, producer, and mom, I am so eager to create something we can all be proud to share with the world.”
According to the logline, “Hollywood Arts” will see Trina return to her alma mater as “an unqualified substitute teacher” after struggling to make it as an actress. There, she will both clash and “unexpectedly” inspire the next generation of ambitious and talented performing arts school students.
In “Victorious,” which originally ran from 2010 to 2013, Trina was the untalented but overly confident older sister of Tori Vega, played by Victoria Justice. The cast of the hit teen series also included Ariana Grande, Avan Jogia, Elizabeth Gillies, Leon Thomas III and Matt Bennett.
The spinoff will also feature Yvette Nicole Brown as a guest star. Brown briefly appeared in “Victorious” as school principal Helen Dubois — a character who originated on Nickelodeon’s “Drake & Josh,” which ran from 2004 to 2007.
In addition to starring on “Hollywood Arts,” Monet will serve as an executive producer alongside showrunners Jake Farrow and Samantha Martin and director Jonathan Judge. (Dan Schneider, who created “Victorious” and whose alleged misconduct was at the center of the 2024 docuseries “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,” is not involved.)
The 26-episode first season is expected to debut on Netflix in 2026 before hitting Nickelodeon and Paramount+. The series is currently in production in Ontario, Canada.
Over the past 25 years, the world has grown to love one of Nickelodeon’s most recognizable characters, Dora Márquez. Whether for her conspicuous bowl cut and pink tee, or her singing anthropomorphic backpack, Dora the Explorer has sparked joy in children for generations.
But what happens when that adventurous girl loses the items that have guided and defined her for so long?
Self-discovery is the end goal of Dora’s latest quest in the new live-action film, “Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado,” which debuted July 2 on Paramount+. The film marks the start of a new journey for a girl who has long existed in the minds of viewers as the adventurous 7-year-old protagonist of the original 2000 animated series “Dora the Explorer” — and later in the short-lived 2014 sequel, “Dora and Friends: Into the City!”
Along with her animal-loving cousin Diego (Jacob Rodriguez) and friends, Dora (Samantha Lorraine) must rediscover who she is while trekking through the treacherous Amazonian jungle in search of Sol Dorado: an ancient treasure that grants one magical wish to whoever locates it. Yet her plans go awry when she finds herself losing one of her most valuable tools.
Although most adults would not rank Dora in the same company as the gritty lead adventurers of “Indiana Jones” or “Tomb Raider,” the film features death-defying scenes that deserve a second look — thanks to the use of real fire and critter-riddled caves in the middle of the Colombian jungle.
Authenticity was key for director Alberto Belli (“The Naughty Nine”), who proposed to studio executives that Dora explore her Andean heritage, including the use of the indigenous language of Quechua, which is spoken by approximately 10 million people in South America.
“This is the first time that we hear Dora speaking Quechua, and we went through great lengths to make sure that the pronunciation was right,” says Belli, who also consulted with Incan culture experts on the Andean kinship principle of “ayllu,” along with the use of “quipu,” a recordkeeping device of knotted cords — both elements which are included in the storyline.
“We’ve seen figures like ‘Indiana Jones’ exploring other cultures, but Dora is the only mainstream [adventurer] exploring her own culture,” says Belli. “And she’s celebrating and interested in the history more than the treasure.”
(PABLO ARELLANO SPATARO/NICKELODEON/PARAMOUNT+)
Dora’s innate curiosity is part of what cultivated her popularity among young children since Nickelodeon launched the series. Who can forget the pip-squeak who broke the fourth wall to reel in preschool audiences with problem-solving questions? Even if its repetitive verbiage drove parents a little mad? (You try saying “Swiper, no swiping!” three times fast!)
But for creators Chris Gifford and Valerie Walsh Valdes, the idea of Dora, as the world has come to love, was not so straightforward. Their early brainstorm sessions, along with Eric Weiner, first sprung up concepts of a little boy bunny who would follow a map toward a final destination — tagging along with him was a red-haired girl named Nina and a pocket-sized mouse named Boots.
Nickelodeon’s executive producer Brown Johnson— creator of the network’s preschool block, Nick Jr. — pitched the idea of the main character being Latina after attending an industry conference that underscored the dearth representation of Latinos in the media. According to the 2000 U.S. census, Latino communities were the nation’s fastest growing ethnic group at the time — and 20% of the kindergarten population across eight states, including California, identified as Latino.
The call for Latino characters was so resounding at the time that it caused some advocacy organizations to launch a weeklong boycott in 1999 to protest the dearth of Latino representation — Latinos made up fewer than 2% of TV characters at that time, despite making up 11% of the population in 1999. “ So we said, okay, how do we do it?” says Gifford.
“One thing that we picked up on very early was using the language in a way to solve problems, almost as a superpower,” says Gifford. “I think that was a huge part of the success of Dora.”
Gifford calls Dora’s use of Spanish a “game changer,” and that certainly seems to be the case — in the show, magical passageways remain locked unless the viewer utters the occasional Spanish phrase or word. At the end of every successful mission, Dora belts out her victorious tune: “We did it, lo hicimos!”
Released on August 14, 2000, the first episode of “Dora the Explorer” moved forward in spite of an English-only movement bubbling up in California politics a few years prior; Proposition 227 passed in 1998 by a large margin, effectively curtailing bilingual education in the state.
(PABLO ARELLANO SPATARO/NICKELODEON/PARAMOUNT+)
“It was not the time that [someone] would think to [make Dora a bilingual character], but of course it was exactly the right time for it to happen,” says Gifford.
The release of “Dora the Explorer” could not be more timely. While political angst pushed against the use of Spanish in the classroom, the country was simultaneously experiencing a “Latin Boom,” a pop culture movement propelled by Hispanic musical acts like Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias, who broke ground in the U.S. mainstream with bilingual hit singles like the famed “Livin’ la Vida Loca” and “Bailamos,” respectively. At the same time, actors like Rosie Perez, Salma Hayek and Jennifer Lopez were also making great strides for Latinas in film.
“There was this awareness [that] the Latino talent we have in this country [was] all coming to the forefront,” said Walsh Valdes. “The zeitgeist was there for us.”
But Dora’s appeal did not entirely hinge on her being a Latina character. In fact, she was designed to be ethnically ambiguous for that reason, suggested Carlos Cortés, professor emeritus in history at UC Riverside, who consulted the creative team. “Let’s let everybody be a part of this,” says Walsh Valdes on the choice to write Dora as pan-Latina.
Instead, the focus of the show remained on the missions; whether it was returning a lost baby penguin to the South Pole, or leading aliens back to their purple planet. In its first year, “Dora the Explorer” averaged 1.1 million viewers ages 2 to 5 and 2 million total viewers, according to Nielsen Co. The original show stretched on for almost two decades before closing out on Aug. 9, 2019.
“We saw such excitement from [little kids feeling] empowered by this girl who can go to a place like the city of lost toys… and little kids who can’t tie their own shoes can feel like they’re helping her,” says Gifford.
The Dora world has also expanded into a tween-coded sequel, “Dora and Friends: Into the City!” and the spin-off “Go, Diego, Go!” — the environmental protection and animal rescue show starring Dora’s cousin Diego. Last year, Dora got a reboot on Nickelodeon’s parent company Paramount+, which was a full circle move for Kathleen Herles, who voiced Dora in the original series.
Now, Herles takes on the motherly role of “Mami” in the 2024 animated series, now available to stream on Paramount+. “Talk about going on another adventure,” says Herles in a video call.
Herles still remembers panicking after her audition back in 1998. Gifford, who was in the room, asked to speak to Herles’ mother, a Peruvian immigrant with slim knowledge of the entertainment biz at the time. “Being Latina, at first I [was] like, ‘Oh my God. She’s going to think I got in trouble,’” says Herles.
The opportunity not only changed the course of Herles’ life financially, but it also opened the door for her to travel the world and reenter the realm of entertainment after a brief career in interior design. Coincidentally, at the time of our call, the 34-year-old voice actor was house hunting in Los Angeles, preparing to move from her native New York City so that she can pursue more career opportunities.
“To me that’s really a testament to [the power of] Dora… because Dora’s an explorer, and she gave me the opportunity to explore,” says Herles.
For 18-year old actress Lorraine, who stars as Dora in “Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado,” this marks her first lead role in any film. She fills big shoes; Isabela Merced, who now stars in HBO’s “The Last of Us,” was cast in the first live-action, standalone 2019 film for the franchise, “Dora and the Lost City of Gold.”
“When it comes to Latino representation, [Dora] was a trailblazer for that,” says Lorraine. “Being able to see a Latina woman in charge and taking the lead? We need more of that to this day.”
The Miami-born actor of Cuban descent, who previously starred in the 2023 Netflix movie “You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah,” answers the audio call after having just arrived in New York City, where she entertains the possibility of a Broadway career.
Like many young adults her age, Lorraine grew up enchanted by Dora’s adventures — so much that she admittedly got the same bob haircut. “She’s my role model,” says Lorraine. “Every time we would shoot a scene, I would think to myself, ‘What would little Samantha want to watch?’”
Throughout every Dora series and film, courage is the connective tissue in her story. “Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado” reminds audiences that the true navigational force behind the pint-size girl was always within her.
And with a full rollout of fresh Dora content — including the new third season of the rebooted 2024 series “Dora,” and an hour-long special called “Dora & Diego: Rainforest Rescues” — even 25 years after the Latina explorer first appeared on screen, it’s clear that her legacy is enduring.
“She will always be that girl,” says Lorraine. “[She’s] that girl who yearns for adventure and has that curiosity spark in her, and that thirst for knowledge.”
SpongeBob SquarePants would, in theory, have little use for stamps. They would get soggy in that pineapple under the sea.
Neither would Patrick Star (no fingers on the ends of those arms), Mr. Crabs (claws) or Squidward Tentacles (his name says it all). One could argue that even the fans of “SpongeBob SquarePants” wouldn’t have much use for stamps. That crowd doesn’t go in for snail mail — although Gary the Snail might.
Nevertheless, the whole gang from Nickelodeon’s long-running animated show — even Sandy Cheeks, the squirrel in the diving suit — is featured on a new set of commemorative Forever stamps, according to the U.S. Postal Service.
But the point isn’t to use them but to collect them, and perhaps look at the yellow, smiling, gap-toothed face of SpongeBob when you need a quick pick-me-up.
If you happen to be in New York City’s Times Square on Aug. 1 from 8 to 10 a.m. Eastern, you can get your hands on the new stamps. The event is free, but the stamps you’ll have to pay for. (A sheet of 16 will cost you $12.48. They’re 78 cents apiece.)
That’s 40 cents more than each stamp would have cost when “SpongeBob” premiered 26 years ago.
The USPS art director, Greg Breeding, designed the stamps with Nickelodeon artwork to guide him, according to the Postal Service. He’ll be on hand for autographs.
The world of Bikini Bottom was introduced in May 1999, and the show began a full run two months later. Creator Stephen Hillenburg, who died in 2018 at age 57 after battling Lou Gehrig’s disease, was — appropriately — a teacher of marine biology in Southern California before switching to animation. He created colorful teaching tools as well as wrote and illustrated stories with the characters who came to populate the show, as The Times wrote in Hillenburg’s obituary.
To set the record straight, stamps have, in fact, been used in Bikini Bottom.
One example: In the Season 13 episode “Patrick the Mailman,” the starfish delivers a letter to SpongeBob and asks him, “Do you know where this Spon-gee-Boob Squir-pa-Nants lives?” He then makes SpongeBob his postal pal.
