Note: This story contains spoilers from “Hollywood Arts.”
“Hollywood Arts” is now streaming on Netflix and no, it doesn’t forget about the cast of “Victorious.” In fact, it outright continues some of their stories and definitely leaves the door open for more.
In the sequel series, Trina Vega (Daniella Monet) returns to Hollywood Arts, this time as a teacher. She starts as a sub, mostly just intending to redo her big showcase moment that she lost out on in Nickelodeon’s hit series “Victorious.” But, she quickly realizes that she actually wants to help the next generation.
Of course, that next generation knows exactly who she is, but that’s only because they definitely know who her sister is.
Is Tori Vega in “Hollywood Arts?”
These days, Tori Vega (Victoria Justice) is a major recording artist. She’s known all over, to the point that her locker is preserved at the school, and the kids treat it as a sort of shrine. They even write letters and deliver them in said locker, hoping some of Tori’s superstardom will rub off on them.
Alas, Tori herself doesn’t appear in the first season, but she’s certainly a factor in the story. She even ends up donating a whole lot of money to help the school keep its funding. The series alludes to Trina calling and texting her younger sister, but sadly, we don’t ever see her.
What about the others?
There is one Hollywood Arts alum that returns onscreen though: Robbie. Yes, the sweet little odd duck played by Matt Bennett is now a teacher himself, and he and Trina are actually set up on a blind date.
He still has Rex by his side, and the puppet is as sassy as ever, but Robbie has definitely matured a bit. So much so, in fact, that Trina actually does start seeing him in a different light. Unfortunately, he gets a full-time job very far away, so we don’t get to see what that relationship could really look like — for now, anyway.
“There might be more where that came from,” Monet teased to TheWrap.
At this point, Robbie is the only veteran to return. But according to Monet, her former castmates all have a standing invitation, should they want to pop in.
“Everyone has an open invite. The door is open,” she explained. “I think there’s a world where they all can play in this, and I want them to be a part of that conversation. I know we’ve all had time to think about where would our characters be, so I sort of leave that in their laps a little.”
“Matt was available and is one of the sweetest, most amazing humans, and I wanted him to be a part of it, and he wanted to be a part of it, and so that’s where the conversation started.”
In fact, before Monet even agreed to do “Hollywood Arts,” she sent a message to the “Victorious” cast, asking for their permission to do so. According to the actress, it was incredibly important to get their blessing.
“When we were making the show, I felt like they carried the show. I honestly feel like ‘Victorious’ was weighted on so much of them,” she said. “And their performance, and their characters, and their storylines, and that Trina was there, but she wasn’t the reason. No pun intended.”
“I felt like taking a show that was so much a part of them, and using the universe for my own character’s benefit, felt so strange for me personally. That’s the honest truth,” she continued. “I wanted to make sure that they were in a place in their lives that this wouldn’t be a thing for them. And even though I could probably look at them and go, ‘Oh, I think they would be fine,’ it mattered so much for me to ask and just know what their real thoughts were, because we came from this this whole world that meant so much to us, and everyone kind of catapulted in different directions.”
“Hollywood Arts” is now streaming on Netflix.
