For guys and girls who grew up in the 1990s, Danielle Fishel's Topanga Lawrence was a TGIF icon as leading lady of Boy Meets World. Still, as much as viewers loved Topanga, the actress didn’t always love the character or the show. She explained what she learned from her "tainted" final years on TGIF.
The Boy Meets World alum reprised her role as Topanga for the sequel series Girl Meets World starting in 2014, so Danielle Fishel clearly didn't harbor any bad feelings about the character in adulthood. It was towards the end of her time on the beloved original comedy that she began to get tired of the job. Looking back at that time, the television personality spoke with Romper about why she regretted spoiling her experience in those final years.
The last several years, I feel like were tainted by my own feeling of wanting it to be over. And now, I would do anything to go back and have those moments back. Any time in my life, both personally and professionally where I have felt like I'm starting to take something for granted, I remind myself, ‘You did this with the end of Boy Meets World. Don't do it now, because one day you're going to look back and you're going to wish you had those moments back.’ I think it's such an important lesson for teenagers and for me, even now as an adult.
Who can't relate to the idea of doing something over and over for so long that at some point, you're ready to move on? So, you can’t blame her for wanting to move on after playing the same role for seven seasons. At least she was able to learn from her BMW experience and check herself every time she goes back to those thoughts. Now, she takes any moment in instead of wanting the experience to end quickly.
Not only was Topanga Lawrence an iconic 1990s character (and crush) for a generation, but she was also multifaceted as both John Adams High’s most popular and smartest girl. She managed to be the voice of reason and champion social causes on several occasions.
Of course, it might have gone differently if the original plan for her to be a recurring or one-off character had worked out. But it was her relationship with Cory Mathews that drove the classic 1990s sitcom, culminating in moments like their first kiss and getting married as college students. Of course, the high school sweethearts stayed together and had two children as seen in the sequel series.
Since the end of Girl Meets World, Fishel and Ben Savage reunited once again for an adorable Panera Bread commercial. They fed all the Topanga and Cory fanatics with 1990s pop culture references. Hopefully it's only a matter of time before Cory and Topanga Mathews pop up again (maybe in a Hallmark movie?).
To watch every spectacular Topanga moment, you can find all seven seasons of Boy Meets World and its sequel Girl Meets World by getting a Disney+ subscription. You can also check out what the actress and her former castmates are up to now. After you watch those series, there are new and returning shows for you to check out.
