Discover the reason why Helen Dubois from Drake & Josh was recast, only for the original actress to come back shortly thereafter.
Drake & Josh first aired in 2004 as a means of capitalizing on Drake Bell and Josh Peck’s popularity on fellow Nickelodeon series The Amanda Show. The sitcom followed the misadventures of two teens who didn’t always see eye-to-eye but learned to co-exist as step-brothers after their parents married.
The series was an instant hit among its target audience of teens and kids, though some public goodwill felt toward Drake & Josh has been marred in the wake of various admissions and allegations concerning certain involved individuals.
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Why Did Drake & Josh Have Two Different Helens?
Actress Yvette Nicole Brown began her run as supporting character Helen Dubois on Drake & Josh in 2004 with the Season 2 episode "Movie Job." But that run was promptly interrupted three episodes later when the role was recast with Frances Callier.
In the episode directly following Callier’s debut portraying Helen, Brown had suddenly returned to the role. This switch-out likely caused a bit of confusion among Drake & Josh’s young viewer base. But why was it done?
According to Yvette Nicole Brown herself (via the Drake & Josh Wiki), Helen was recast after her initial appearance because Brown had a commitment to the ABC series The Big House. When that series was canceled, she was able to reprise Helen on Drake & Josh:
"I originated the role of Helen as a guest-star; but was a series regular on a short-lived show on ABC called 'The Big House.' By the time I was asked back to do another episode of 'Drake & Josh,' I wasn’t available to do the episode. They decided to “recast” Helen-- instead of having someone else play Helen’s cousin or sister--because they thought I wouldn’t be available ever again. By the time they wrote a third episode for Helen, 'The Big House' had ended its six-episode run and I was available again. I played Helen in every episode after that."
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Could Drake & Josh Ever Return?
The latest craze in show biz is legacy revivals and sequels, in which original cast members of a long-defunct property are brought back to do another installment.
Lucasfilm famously took this route when developing its Star Wars sequels, and various movies and shows from yesteryear have returned for another go at it, such as Top Gun and Frasier.
With that in mind, does there exist the possibility for Nickelodeon to revive Drake & Josh? The short answer is probably not.
Drake Bell landed himself in some legal hot water back in 2021 when he pleaded guilty to "attempted endangering [of] children and disseminating matter harmful to juveniles" during his relationship with former girlfriend Melissa Lingafelt.
On top of this, Drake & Josh series creator Dan Schneider became the subject of several abuse and misconduct allegations during his time with Nickelodeon, during which he produced several other shows.
The recent documentary Quiet on the Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV features very candid confessions from former Nickelodeon stars regarding their experiences with the network when they were children.
Bell received much of the documentary’s screen time to reveal that he was sexually abused by his dialogue coach Brian Peck when the former was 15 years of age.
All this is to say that due to events that have transpired since Drake & Josh ended in 2007 in both the public and personal lives of its stars and creative staff, producing more episodes of the series is very likely a giant non-starter.
