Last fall, Daniella Monet had what she describes as a “surreal” experience. She was again walking the halls of Hollywood Arts, the fictional elite performing arts high school that set the scene for her breakout role as Trina Vega on the Nickelodeon sitcom Victorious. But instead of being surrounded by her former costars on a soundstage on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, she found herself among a new generation of fresh-faced actors on a set that had been eerily re-created in Vancouver.
That feeling of déjà vu was a regular occurrence for Monet while working on Hollywood Arts, a new series that premieres Thursday, October 15 on Netflix. (The first half of the 26-episode order, including the two-part pilot that has been combined into one 50-minute episode, will debut in mid-October; the second half will drop at a later date.)
In this spinoff, created by Victorious writer-producer Jake Farrow (who also voiced the abrasive puppet Rex Powers on the show) and Samantha Martin, Trina returns to her alma mater to act as a substitute for recently retired acting teacher, Erwin Sikowitz (Eric Lange). Trina’s initial hope is to jumpstart her own struggling acting career through well-connected “nepo baby” students, but she unexpectedly discovers a knack for nurturing young talent.
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| The Cast of 'Hollywood Arts' | Paramount+/Netflix |
As Monet explains to Teen Vogue in a first look at Hollywood Arts, being a real teacher was not on Trina’s “bingo card, but there was something about it that hit something for her that gave her purpose.” Despite spending the last 15 years stuck in the shadow of her gifted younger sister, Tori (Victoria Justice), Trina is still intimately familiar with showbiz. “Not everyone has to be this huge star to understand what it takes,” Monet continues. “Trina’s not afraid to go for it. That’s a really great skill when it comes to opening up the minds of kids who are looking to explore their own talents.”
Although Martin insists that she and Farrow made “no concerted effort” to create characters reminiscent of the original Victorious ensemble, the comparisons remain inevitable. At the heart of this new offshoot is another eccentric friend group: Emmy (Alyssa Miles), a tech producer secretly harboring a passion for performing; silly, airheaded Pepper (Emmy Liu-Wang), who is also fiercely loyal to her friends; Qwest (Peyton Jackson), a musical genius hiding his talent behind a fake basketball scholarship; Jen Z (Erika Swayze), a sharp-tongued, neglected rich girl; and Oscar (Martin Kamm), Emmy’s self-serious, floppy-haired brother who is struggling in the shadow of her rising stardom at school.
School Is Back in Session
In the 13 years since Victorious was unceremoniously canceled without a proper finale, Farrow says that he had always been angling for a return to Hollywood Arts. (Sam & Cat—the first spinoff of both iCarly and Victorious, starring Jennette McCurdy and Ariana Grande—lasted only one season, ending in 2014.) Over the years, according to Monet, the Victorious cast members have mused over what a potential reunion or continuation could look like.
But in March 2024—while filming a Hallmark Christmas movie, her first acting role in five years after stepping back to have children—Monet received a call from Farrow asking if she would be interested in revisiting Trina. “Like anyone else would’ve felt, I was a little shocked,” Monet recalls of hearing Farrow’s pitch. “To take a show that was so special in that time and has lived on for so many years, and to actually have someone propose the idea of bringing any version of that back, I think I had to process the idea of that. It was a little hard to believe that it was possible.”
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| The Cast of 'Hollywood Arts' | Paramount+/Netflix |
Unbeknownst to Monet at the time, Farrow had already spent the previous few months developing the idea with his former Henry Danger colleague Martin. (Coincidentally, Monet and Martin first met in 2004, when Monet starred opposite Seinfeld’s Jason Alexander on the short-lived CBS family sitcom Listen Up, which was created by Martin’s father, Jeff. Monet’s Listen Up character was largely inspired by Martin because they were the same age.)
Although Victorious was a hit for the generation just after hers, Martin felt that, having studied musical theater at New York University, she had already “lived” a version of the show. “As soon as I started watching Victorious, I was like, ‘Oh man, I wish that I were 10 years younger so this show could have been around when I was going through all of this,’” she recalls.
Farrow and Martin agreed that Trina was the most compelling Victorious character to explore, given that her trajectory was the least defined. Interestingly, though, Farrow and Martin say they were not nervous about tarnishing the legacy of Victorious; even now, the co-showrunners are “superconfident” that they have created a show that will appeal to devotees and newcomers alike.
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| Hollywood Arts: Season 1. (L-R) Erika Swayze as Jen Z, Alyssa Miles as Emmy, and Emmy Liu-Wang as Pepper in Hollywood Arts: Season 1. Cr. NETFLIX © 2026 |
For all of Monet’s excitement, she still had reservations. “It’s terrifying to reboot anything that had such a love and people think so fondly of. That fandom is so important. I wanted to do right by them,” she explains. Those people included the original main cast, all of whom Monet reached out to individually shortly before news broke in February 2025 that Hollywood Arts was in development. Even though many of her former castmates “are so busy and beyond those years,” Monet says, she still felt “such a strong obligation to have their blessing.”
“I felt much better with every single conversation because it was so supportive,” Monet says. “I remember Ariana saying something along the lines of, ‘This is your chance to make [a show that feels like] what Nickelodeon felt like for us.’ I watched Nick growing up, and there’s something that will always be special about Nickelodeon. Although there’s been so many iterations since then and the landscape is very different with streaming, there’s still such a need for this kind of content.” She adds over email, “Personally, it was my comfort network, so it would be really special to be able to be part of a show that could be that for another generation.”
Finding the Next Gen
Monet had a couple of mandates as an executive producer of Hollywood Arts: The sets had to feel the same, which, for her, meant rehiring Victorious assistant art director Tristan Dalley as the new production designer (Monet calls him “a living, breathing archive” who has maintained photos and original props); and Monet had to be directly involved in casting.
Between February and May 2025, before the spinoff was officially greenlit that June, more than 5,700 actors auditioned for the five central roles. Throughout the process, Monet personally reviewed self-tape auditions, sat in on Zoom callbacks, and ultimately participated in one-on-one virtual chemistry reads with the final three contenders for each role.
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| Hollywood Arts: Season 1. Alyssa Miles as Emmy in Hollywood Arts: Season 1. Cr. Kailey Schwerman/Paramount+/Netflix |
Above all else, Monet prioritized comedic skill. Before ensuring that the next generation could sing and dance, she wanted to make sure they were funny. “We’re lucky that we get to play in this familiar world, but let’s be fresh about it; let’s be really intentional,” she recalls saying. “Talent comes first.”
From the outset, the executive producers considered the chosen actors their “dream cast,” in part due to their contrasting music styles. And much like Victorious—which spawned iconic original hits like “Freak the Freak Out,” “Give It Up,” and “Take a Hint”—Hollywood Arts is jam-packed with a variety of music. “There are a fair amount of covers, original songs, some really cute Phoebe Buffay-style ditties,” Martin says. Backed by an “extremely generous” music budget from Netflix and Paramount, the show also features a surprising lineup of licensed tracks, including, Farrow says, “a Goo Goo Dolls needle drop” that he believes is “worth the price of admission.”
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| Hollywood Arts: Season 1. Daniella Monet as Trina in Hollywood Arts: Season 1. Cr. Kailey Schwerman/Paramount+/Netflix |
Slipping back into Trina’s shoes felt like second nature for Monet. She says she rediscovered the character’s voice almost instantly during those chemistry reads, and relished the opportunity to dive back into her signature physical comedy. “Our wardrobe stylist, Kelli [Dunsmore], was incredible about making Trina’s version of who she is slightly elevated, but still kind of ‘bad teacher,’” Monet says, describing her outfits as “edgy, but still grown up, youthful and silly” with “a lot of monochromatic” and color blocking.
“I love that Trina stays true to the character that she always was, but she’s grown up and there’s a little bit of character rehab going on,” Farrow adds. “She’s matured, and she’s become a better and more likable person.”
Monet has been particularly touched by how fans, as well as the Hollywood Arts writers, have given new meaning to a character once written purely for laughs. “People are looking for that permission to advocate for themselves and not be so self-aware all the time,” Monet says of Trina’s enduring appeal. “Trina is very unapologetically who she is; what she says is not filtered. You know that she’s not malicious by any means. She’s a little bit selfish, but I think it’s refreshing.”
Although the creative team has “the door open” for “legacy cast” to make guest appearances, Monet says, most of her former costars are waiting to see what the spinoff looks like before committing. Some, she adds, including Elizabeth Gillies and Avan Jogia, already have their own thoughts about where their characters would be today. “It’s important to honor that,” Monet says. “I think they’re all rallying behind me in their own way and curious and excited. We’ll see what the future holds.”
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| The Cast of 'Hollywood Arts' | Paramount+/Netflix |
Martin reiterates that Hollywood Arts was always designed to “pass the torch to Trina and establish the new cast,” but Victorious fans “will be satisfied pretty quickly in both the pilot and then pretty shortly thereafter.” In fact, she notes, there’s “a really satisfying arc with a member of the original cast” in season one.
Even without many cameos, Victorious Easter eggs abound in Hollywood Arts. When Trina first enters Sikowitz’s classroom, which still has the painting of ducks playing poker hanging over the door, she is wearing a shirt with an original printed ticket from her signature one-woman show. In a later episode, she mentions buying a discounted pair of boots that look remarkably like Fazzinis. An early episode is centered around the lore of Tori’s school-famous locker. And, naturally, the students still eat lunch at the Asphalt Cafe near the Grub Truck.
Viewers, however, should not expect too much backstory about what happened to Trina after Victorious, including whether she ever made it to a production of Chicago—at least not yet. “There were so many points where we were like, ‘Where does Trina live?’” Monet says. “There’s a lot that we’re leaving unwrapped because we want to have time to explore that.”
She continues, “There’s only so much you can explore with all the episodes we were given, and we’re so grateful that we got to do so much, but I think there’s more there for sure.”
A New Beginning
Like anything in life, change is inevitable at Hollywood Arts. The series premiere will feature a brand-new theme song unveiled at the school’s “Big Showcase,” mirroring the original pilot where Tori famously performed “Make It Shine.” The pear-shaped phones from Victorious no longer exist in this universe, largely because, as Monet explains, “when we’re doing a green screen on a phone, nothing fits into a pear shape, so that’s hard [to do].” And while the new show retains the original’s sharp sense of humor, Farrow says, the tone has been updated to be a little less mean-spirited.
Most notably, Hollywood Arts’ social networking website, The Slap, has evolved into a TikTok-esque platform called The Dap. Farrow, who credits his own TikTok obsession since about 2020 for inspiring the change, describes The Dap as “what The Slap became”—a modern space where students “make and post content showing their talents,” while interacting with their followers in comment sections.
“Jake’s TikTok affinity is part of the reason that this show doesn’t feel like adults writing for kids. We really want this show to feel cool and current,” Martin adds. “We use [The Dap] in transitions between scenes to serve a little as a functional talking head. Characters talk about how they’re feeling, and it helps transition from scene to scene in a way that I think will feel comforting to people who loved the original. It serves a bit of a similar purpose [as The Slap], but also feels more current because it’s vertical and looks like you’re swiping.”
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| Hollywood Arts: Season 1. (L-R) Erika Swayze as Jen Z, Emmy Liu-Wang as Pepper, and Peyton Jackson as Qwest in Hollywood Arts: Season 1. Cr. NETFLIX © 2026 |
Hollywood Arts debuts just two years after Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, Investigation Discovery’s explosive five-part docuseries about the toxic culture surrounding some children’s shows from the 1990s through the 2000s. The series focuses heavily on Victorious creator Dan Schneider during his tenure as Nickelodeon’s most powerful showrunner, and features interviews with several former child actors, including Drake & Josh star Drake Bell, who comes forward to reveal that he was the previously unnamed child actor sexually abused by dialogue coach Brian Peck behind the scenes. (Peck, who is of no relation to Bell's co-star Josh Peck, was ultimately sentenced to 16 months in prison and required to register as a sex offender.)
After the docuseries, Schneider apologized for his “embarrassing” behavior, including inappropriate jokes and routinely getting massages on set, in a YouTube video; but he has also sued the Quiet on Set producers for defamation, claiming that the series intimates he was also a sexual abuser, which he denies. (Teen Vogue has reached out to Schneider for additional comment.)
Multiple Victorious cast members have since reflected publicly on their time at the network. Justice spoke out about what she described as her “very complex” relationship with Schneider, while calling certain moments in his shows “in poor taste.” Grande and Gillies, who watched Quiet on Set together over FaceTime, each shared that they have both been “reprocessing” their time on the sitcom.
In the 2022 Business Insider investigation that preceded the docuseries, Monet criticized some of the hypersexualized content in Victorious, pointing to a specific scene where her character was directed to eat a pickle while applying lip gloss. Farrow, who was not quoted in Quiet on Set, was a presence across many of Schneider’s Nickelodeon shows; along with the shared iCarly and Victorious universe, he worked on Drake & Josh, Game Shakers, and the Henry Danger franchise.
While speaking with Teen Vogue, Farrow and Monet are focused on how they cultivated a much happier and healthier work culture on the Hollywood Arts set, an environment where the safety and protection of underaged actors is paramount to the producers. “That is a non-negotiable for Jake and me,” says Martin. (Farrow and Martin confirm that Schneider, who parted ways with Nickelodeon in 2018, “is in no way involved” with Hollywood Arts.)
“I’ve been watching showrunners since 1997,” Farrow says. “I was a writers’ assistant on Friends. I saw how David [Crane] and Marta [Kauffman] ran it. On Arrested Development, I saw how Mitchell Hurwitz ran it. I always watched these guys as, ‘This is how I would run a show if I ever have my own,’ so I’m finally getting to do that. And on the original [Victorious], in some ways, I learned how not to do it, and I’m not making the same mistakes.”
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| Hollywood Arts: Season 1. (L-R) Erika Swayze as Jen Z, Emmy Liu-Wang as Pepper, Daniella Monet as Trina Vega, Alyssa Miles as Emmy, Martin Kamm as Oscar, and Peyton Jackson as Qwest in Hollywood Arts: Season 1. Cr. Kailey Schwerman/Paramount+/Netflix |
Monet says that she and the co-creators had a simple philosophy when hiring anyone: “It was basically like, ‘It’s good vibes or bust.’ We know so many people are capable of doing their job, but the feeling we get around everyone, that’s going to matter most,” Monet says. That meant always returning to one question: “Is our work environment going to be so fruitful and enjoyable that everyone’s going to not only want to be there, but they’re going to put their best foot forward and want to keep coming back?”
To that end, Monet, Farrow and Martin all lived in the same building as the main cast in Vancouver, where they filmed from last October until March. Not unlike Trina, Monet immediately assumed a maternal role with her younger counterparts: making them soup when they were sick; dropping off clothes and PR gifts at their doors; and gathering everyone for coffee runs or group workout sessions. Even when Farrow and Martin flew back to Los Angeles to spend weekends with their families, Monet often stayed behind with her greener costars.
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| Hollywood Arts: Season 1. (L-R) Emmy Liu-Wang as Pepper, Alyssa Miles as Emmy, Erika Swayze as Jen Z, and Daniella Monet as Trina Vega in Hollywood Arts: Season 1. Cr. Kailey Schwerman/Paramount+/Netflix |
“Anytime my family was around, they were truly the best big sisters, brothers, aunts, and uncles you could ever ask for. The most precious thing I could ask for is them being so sweet to my family and my kids,” says Monet. “It really felt like living together in a different place and them being away from their families for that long for the first time was so conducive to us creating this kind of unbreakable bond that I’d never really experienced [before].”
Welcome (back) to Hollywood Arts! The next chapter in the Victorious universe is coming to Netflix Thursday, October 15. The series will also air on Nickelodeon and be available on Paramount+ at a later date. To celebrate the news, Netflix has released the first trailer along with first-look photos from the series, which you can check out below!
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