Believe it or not, this Friday is iCarly's tenth birthday!
Yup, it's been ten years since the show premiered on Nickelodeon USA. And even after ten years, there's still one burning question the fans are still dying to know an answer to: WHO DID FREDDIE LOVE? Carly or Sam?
Some fans say that Freddie's one true love was always Carly, after all, she kissed him in the finale episode right as she was leaving for Italy. It had to mean something right? Well, not according to Seddie shippers. They think that Carly was just a childhood crush and Sam was Freddie's true love. I mean, Freddie came running when he thought Sam was hurt during her Sam & Cat days, and they're the pair that actually dated!
Well, to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of the show, Nickelodeon has a major treat iCarly fans: They're dedicating a whole episode of Game Shakers to addressing the Creddie vs. Seddie debate, and Seventeen.com got the chance to chat with the director of the episode and iCarly royalty, Nathan Kress, to pick his brain on all the iCarly shipping questions that have been eating you up for the past five years!
So let's just get the most important question out of the way right here and now: Who does Nathan think Freddie really loved? Nathan had a pretty good answer to that question, but not one you'll particularly love.
"I get that there's merit to both sides, but if this was actual real life and not a sitcom, I really don't think that Freddie should end up with either one of those girls," Nathan said in a brutally honest moment. "There's a lot of reasons why neither relationship actually makes sense. Just knowing what I know about real-life relationships and what's important, I don't really see many of those things in either one of those relationships."
Actually, he has some pretty solid advice for Freddie Benson. "If Nathan and Freddie sat down and had lunch, and he was talking to me about these girls that he just couldn't decide between and there were so many great things about both of them, knowing what I know, I would probably recommend he move to another country that's not Italy and just start over and find a girl that is actually into him without having to push himself in front of a taco truck." Oooooooh, BURN Carly. "And also one that does not constantly verbally and physically abuse him." OUCH, Sam.
Nathan's talking straighup facts. And even though he doesn't think Freddie should end up with Carly or Sam, he does have a special place in his heart for all things iCarly, including Creddie and Seddie. Keep reading to learn Nathan's opinions on all your iCarly shipping questions, like what that finale kiss between Carly and Freddie meant, what it was like filming those iconic kiss scenes, and whether the gang would be down for a full-blown reunion episode! (And BONUS: Nathan weighs in on today's roster of Nickelodeon fan ships.)
17: So what DID that kiss between Carly and Freddie in the finale really mean?
Nathan: "It could be interpreted so many ways and I think for my own sake, I decided not to interpret it in a specific way because that’s the thing: there’s no explanation and the context doesn’t really lend itself to knowing exactly what it means.
"If I had to guess, I would say it was more of a friendly thing. Well, you know? I can't even say that because it wasn’t like a friendly little peck. It was a fairly serious, meaningful one. It didn't look particularly friendly to me. Maybe it was kind of her saying, 'I’m coming back at some point and then after that we’ll see.’ Like I don't think it was an all-the-sudden realization kiss of ‘Oh my gosh! I was in love with you this whole time, but now I’m leaving? How could I have been so silly? But remember me!’ Like I don't think it was this big dramatic kiss either. So that’s a good question.
"I guess at the time, I was trying not to think too far into it. It was just two friends reacting how they would react to a major life change that neither was particularly happy about because it was going to take two really good friends away from each other. So I can’t say with any definitive thing that in the script it said that it was romantic or friendly or one way or the other. It just played out in the moment like it was because it really was two friends saying goodbye. It sounds depressing, but it’s kind of true."
17: What was it like filming that scene?
Nathan: "For that one specifically, I really don't remember at all anything where the director came in and said 'I want it to be more this or less this.' From what I remember, they really did kind of back off and let us lay the moment. And I think, especially with something like that where it was playing very close to the realism of two friends whose saga together is largely about to end, at least for the time being, I think they were able to just kind of let us play how that would feel in real life because we had just finished our last web show together. And it was as if we were shooting it in real life. It was somber. There was a real heaviness that day. It was hard, but it made shooting that scene a lot easier because it was really kind of just us playing it how we would have played it. We didn't really have to act that much... aside from the actual kiss, because we definitely wouldn't have done that in real life. But the beats and the feeling were all pretty authentic."
17: Was it awkward filming the romantic scenes since you were all good friends behind the scenes?
Nathan: "It was really uncomfortable thinking about your cast mates in that way because we had gotten so close over the years that it was really hard to look at each other from a romantic standpoint — that we had to think of each other that way instead of we’re just a bunch of friends hanging out like we were in real life. That definitely made the dynamic a little awkward at times, I think especially between Jeanette and I because we had to act out in a way we weren’t in real life. It was kind of uncomfortable to branch out into that territory when we weren’t there AT ALL in real life. It definitely made things a little bit teenage levels of awkward."
17: When you were filming iCarly, were you surprised by how big the ships became in the fandom?
Nathan: "I don’t think any of us expected it to be such a thing that was going to be such a driving force in the show. The main thing that showed that is that we really didn't have that many episodes devoted to it. There was the one episode with Carly and Freddie where Freddie saved her life and that was their main thing. Then Sam and Freddie had this arc of three or four episodes. But besides that, we didn't want to laser in on that being the point of the show. So we didn’t dedicate a whole lot of time to it besides little things that could have been interpreted one way or the other. So I don’t think that any of us thought that it was going to be such a big debate and I don’t think any of us wanted it to be."
17: Was the love triangle planned from the beginning, or did it happen organically because of the fan response to your chemistry in the cast?
Nathan: "I think it was more of a chemistry thing. You'd have to ask Dan Schneider or one of the writers to see if that was more of an overarching thing that they were planning on, but because there was so little of that kind of dialogue and those kinds of moments that would have made you wonder in the first season, I think it was something that just sort of evolved."
17: Were you scared at all to find out who Freddie belonged with in "Game Shippers"?
Nathan: "In a way, I think I almost didn’t want to know. Just to kind of keep the mystery alive. But yeah, at that point, it was one of those things that I just realized that if that’s what everyone wants to know, we should at least bring up the topic since it’s never really discussed in any way whatsoever during the last episode. They’re so focused on Carly leaving that they never really focused on anything else. And I think it would have been a bad time for there to be a lot of focus on that. Because when it came down to it, it was about the friendship."
17: Was it weird filming an episode of Game Shakers all about iCarly, but playing yourself?
Nathan: "I guess it was kind of trippy thinking about how the universe had expanded to something else and we were being talked about in the context of another cast. It was nice because it kind of took the pressure off. This wasn't an iCarly reunion where all eyes were on us and, "Is this going to be the funniest episode of iCarly ever?!"
17: Would you ever do a reunion?
Nathan: "It's weird, I was thinking about it this morning, what it would be like for us to do a reunion episode? Because honestly, as tempting as it is to get the band back together and do all that stuff, I think all of us would probably be just a little bit worried that the expectation would be so impossibly high that we would never be able to satisfy everyone. Because it wouldn't just be bringing iCarly together — it would be bringing iCarly together to make an episode better and funnier than any iCarly episode that was ever made. That's the only way that people would say the reunion was worth it. That's the problem. As much as people say they would want it to happen, I don't know if that's necessarily true just because it would be so sad for our last thing to disappoint people.
"I definitely would never say that I would never do it, though. It would really come down to an outrageously good script. And not only one that I thought was really good, but one that every single person in the cast could get behind. If there was such a script, then it certainly wouldn't come down to whether or not I had any desire to do it because the thought of getting everyone back together again would be awesome. I would love it."
17: Do Miranda Cosgrove and Jennette McCurdy know about the Seddie vs. Creddie episode of Game Shakers? How do they feel about it?
Nathan: "I mentioned it. Around this time last year, we all got together and had kind of a cast dinner that we try to do roughly every year. At that point, I couldn't say much because the episode hadn't even been written yet. It was very much in the development stage. So there wasn't very much I could tell them. So we didn't get too far into it. But they just laughed and I'm sure it probably made them uncomfortable to bring up the whole topic again so we didn't pay that much attention to it. The dinner tends to be more towards life."
17: As a director of Nickelodeon shows and part of the most iconic Nickelodeon love triangle, are you aware of today's biggest ships like Chenry (Henry and Charlotte on Henry Danger) and Budson (Babe and Hudson from Game Shakers)?
Nathan: "What’s really funny is I’ve always wondered what the ships were, but I never actually knew. Now that you’re telling me for the first time, that’s confirming it. I could have guessed Henry and Charlotte. In a way, at least for the episodes I’ve directed, I haven't really seen too many episodes where Henry and Charlotte are doing anything that would kind of make me scratch my proverbial ear. But there’s definitely times that I’ve seen Henry kind of looking out for Charlotte doing sweet 'friends' things that I guess could be interpreted one way or the other. So I guess I could see where it’s coming from, but I personally haven't seen many of the explicit things that make me think 'Oooooooh, what’s going on there?' So I’m kind of in the dark, but watch me end up directing the episode where they get together or something and then I have to figure out that dynamic."
The iCarly anniversary celebration episode of Game Shakers premieres on Nickelodeon USA on Saturday, September 9th @ 8PM ET/PT, followed by a all-new The After Party! Check out a sneak peek below and then be sure to tune in to find out if the most enduring iCarly question will FINALLY be answered!
Leading up to the episode, TeenNick will air a very special iCarly marathon starting on Monday, September 4, through Saturday, September 9th. iCarly first premiered on Nick USA on Sept. 8, 2007. TeenNick is also asking fans to participate in the celebrations! Click here to find out how you can take part! #iCarly10
More Nick: Nickelodeon's New Daily Scripted Series, "I Am Frankie", Bows Monday, Sept. 11, At 7:30 P.M. (ET/PT) On Nick USA!
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