Freaks and Geeks star Seth Rogen has reflected on its long-lasting legacy. The comedy show, which was created by Paul Feig and executive produced by Judd Apatow, followed two siblings attempting to navigate high school, friendships, fitting in, and burgeoning romance. The ensemble cast of the show included Rogen, Linda Cardellini, John Francis Daley, James Franco, Samm Levine, Jason Segel, and Martin Starr. While the show became a cult favorite, Freaks and Geeks season 2 never came to fruition as the show was cancelled by NBC in 2000, 12 episodes into its 18-episode freshman season.

Entertainment Tonight recently sat down with Seth Rogen to discuss the end of The Boys and the 25th anniversary of Freaks and Geeks. Rogen shared his fond recollections of the show and the fact that he became a high school dropout so he could play a high school student on TV. In addition to revealing that he is still “good friends” with many people from the show, he shared that he “meet[s] teenagers all the time who come up to me and say they love the show.” Read his full quote below:

That is crazy. I was 16, 17 years old when we were making that show. I dropped out of high school to go pretend to be in high school. I still am good friends with a lot of the people that were on the show. People kept watching it — I meet teenagers all the time who come up to me and say they love the show.

The Legacy Of Freaks And Geeks Is Staggering

Nearly Everyone Involved In The Show Is Now Known For Huge Projects

In addition to the show continuing to appeal to modern-day teenagers, it has a long-lasting legacy that would have been almost impossible to predict during its original run. This includes the future careers of Judd Apatow and Paul Feig, who are giants in the comedy industry with the former becoming a leading light in the modern “bromance” comedy subgenre with movies such as Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin and the latter helming projects including Bridesmaids, A Simple Favor, and many key episodes of The Office. Their achievements are somehow matched by the majority of the Freaks and Geeks cast.

Almost every key player in Freaks and Geeks has gone on to find success in huge projects. This includes quite a few of them joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe including Martin Starr (the Spider-Man trilogy), Linda Cardellini (Avengers: Age of Ultron, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and more), and John Francis Daley (who co-wrote Spider-Man: Homecoming). Below, see a breakdown of other major post-2000 projects from the main teen cast of the short-lived show:

The legacy of the Freaks and Geeks cast and crew is perhaps unparalleled. This widespread, more or less even success for the entirety of an ensemble is essentially unheard of, even for huge shows like the generation-defining sitcom Friends, which launched six A-list stars who haven’t all achieved the same level of success as one another since the show ended in 2004. While it was likely a disappointment for everyone involved that the show ended so swiftly, their later careers seem to have more than made up for it.

Source: Entertainment Tonight