Are you ready? Class is back in session at Pacific Coast Academy. Paramount+ has officially started production on Zoey 102, a sequel film to Zoey 101, Nickelodeon's iconic series. Zoey 101 premiered on Nickelodeon in January 2005 and quickly became one of their flagship programs. It hailed from the network's hitmaker Dan Schneider, the mind behind the hugely successful shows All That, Kenan & Kel, and Drake & Josh. Schneider's string of successes would later continue with iCarly and Victorious. Zoey 101 launched the careers of several of its stars, including lead Jamie Lynn Spears, Victoria Justice, and Austin Butler.
Rumors of a revival have been circulating since 2019, with Spears later reuniting with several of her former cast members on the All That revival in 2020. The show received a virtual reunion special in late 2020, with Spears and the cast performing an updated version of the theme song Follow Me with prominent TikTokers to a lukewarm fan reception.
So, cut to now. It's 15 years since the series ended, and our favorite characters are returning to their alma mater. What can we expect from Zoey 102? How will it continue the stories of Zoey, Chase, Michael, Logan, Quinn, and everyone else we grew up watching? Let's look at everything we know right now.
Zoey 102: The Plot
Production on Zoey 102 began in Wilmington, North Carolina in January 2023. Ironic location, given how central the coast was to the original. Currently, exact plot details remain under wraps. However, let's look at what we do know. Zoey and the old group of PCA alums will be reuniting for a wedding in the present day.
That description doesn't give us much to go on. First, we don't know who is getting married. It could be someone from the show or a new original character. Also, given the filming location, it is unclear if Pacific Coast Academy itself will appear.
One possible clue about the plot comes from "What Did Zoey Say?," the tenth-anniversary revival short from 2015. There, Zoey and Chase had gone their separate ways after getting together in the series finale, with Chase ready to propose to someone new. At the exact time he's proposing, Michael surprisingly appears with the DVD the group buried in their time capsule ten years earlier. He tells Chase that Zoey admitted she believed he was her soul mate on the DVD. Wanting to see if Zoey still has feelings, Chase breaks it off with his new almost-fiancee and goes to find Zoey. Despite ending on a cliffhanger, the short was never continued (possibly due to Dan Schneider's contentious exit from Nickelodeon in 2018).
Zoey 102 has a chance to address the fallout from that short, finally revealing if Zoey and Chase are still in love. Who knows, maybe the wedding is for the two of them. All we can do now is wait for more information to be released as production continues.
Zoey 102: The Cast
Zoey 102 is set to reunite several of the main cast members from the series, with some notable exclusions. First, Jamie Lynn Spears will return to the titular role as Zoey Brooks. This time around, Spears will also serve as an executive producer. Besides the lead, Zoey 102 will also see the return of Sean Flynn, who played on-again-off-again love interest Chase Matthews. In addition, Erin Sanders is back as Quinn Pensky, Zoey's former roommate and the show's resident scientist, often testing her bizarre experiments on the group.
Also set to make their returns are Christopher Massey and Matthew Underwood as Michael Barrett and Logan Reese, longtime roommates of Chase, respectively. Abby Wilde is returning as the lisping Stacey Dillsen, who also made guest appearances in later Schneiderverse sitcoms iCarly and Sam & Cat. Finally, Jack Salvatore Jr. is coming back as the bland Mark Del Figgalo, Quinn's love interest for the first three seasons.
Despite the extensive roster of returning alums, several cast members will not come back. Paul Butcher, who played Zoey's younger brother Dustin, is not set to appear. Victoria Justice's aspiring actress Lola Martinez did not RSVP to the reunion wedding, nor did Kristin Herrera's Dana Cruz. Alexa Nikolas, perhaps one the most vocal activists against the mistreatment of child stars, has announced her intentions to boycott Paramount+ for even announcing this project, so it's safe to say her Nicole Bristow is not showing up. Lastly, in one of the more surprising turns, Elvis star Austin Butler has opted not to come back as James Garrett. Returning for the straight-to-streaming reunion movie of his teen sitcom from almost two decades ago seems like a natural follow-up to an award-winning acclaimed performance as one of the most significant entertainment icons of all time.
Like with Paramount+'s iCarly revival, original creator Dan Schneider will have no involvement with Zoey 102. Nancy Hower is attached as director, and the script is penned by Monica Sherer & Madeline Whitby.
Release Date
Currently, there is no release date attached to Zoey 102. However, Paramount+ has scheduled the film for a premiere later in 2023, so we'll see if that date holds up.