Daniella Monet was nervous as hell when she told her old Victorious castmates about Hollywood Arts. And honestly? I get it.

When Your Big Break Belongs to Everyone

Here’s the thing – Victorious wasn’t just Monet’s show. It was Victoria Justice’s, Ariana Grande’s, Elizabeth Gillies’, Leon Thomas III’s. It launched careers that went way beyond Nickelodeon. So when you’re the one getting to revisit that world in a spinoff, playing Trina again while everyone else has moved on, there’s this weird guilt that comes with it.

“I was not sure what I would get back, to be honest,” Monet told Us Weekly. “Because this show is just as important to them as it is to me – and it played such a huge role in all of our careers.”

She wasn’t being dramatic. The show ended in 2013, and since then we’ve watched Grande become one of the biggest pop stars on the planet, Justice carve out her own music career, Gillies land Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll and Dynasty. Meanwhile, Monet’s been doing solid work – Baby Daddy ran for years, she’s built a whole lifestyle brand around parenting and wellness – but she hasn’t had that one massive breakout moment since.

The Collective Ownership Problem

What Monet’s getting at is something most people outside the entertainment industry don’t really think about. When an ensemble show becomes a cultural thing, it kind of belongs to everyone who made it. Not legally, obviously – but emotionally. Spiritually, if you want to get weird about it.

So when one person gets tapped to return to that universe without the others, it can feel like… what? A betrayal? An unfair advantage? Monet described herself as “really mindful” about how she broke the news, “not wanting to step on anyone’s toes and come off like I was trying to capitalize on an opportunity that very much felt collectively ours.”

That’s a pretty mature way to handle it, actually. Because let’s be real – she could’ve just taken the gig and posted about it without a second thought. Plenty of actors would.

But They Said Beautiful Things

The good news? Her former castmates apparently came through. Monet said they told her “a lot of beautiful things” when she reached out. She didn’t specify exactly what those things were – probably because that felt private, which, again, good instincts – but the relief in that statement is pretty obvious.

“[They said] a lot of beautiful things. I was not sure what I would get back, to be honest.”

It’s worth pointing out that Trina was never the main character. She was Tori’s obnoxious older sister, the delusional one who thought she had way more talent than she actually did. Great comedic role, but definitely supporting. So there’s probably less tension here than if, say, they’d announced a Tori-focused spinoff without Justice. Still, Monet’s awareness of the optics shows she’s thinking about this the right way.

What Happens When Nickelodeon Revisits the Past

This whole situation sits in this interesting moment where Nickelodeon is clearly trying to mine nostalgia from its 2010s era shows. We’ve had iCarly come back (without Jennette McCurdy, which became its own whole thing after her memoir). Zoey 101 got a movie. Now Hollywood Arts is apparently happening. The One Chicago Exodus: Who's Gone and Why It Matters shows how these franchise revivals can lose their core cast over time.

The difference is that some of these revivals feel celebratory and some feel… complicated. McCurdy’s been very public about not wanting anything to do with her Nickelodeon past. Other actors have been more diplomatic but you can read between the lines. The network’s reputation has taken some hits in recent years, and not everyone wants to go back.

Monet seems genuinely excited about this, though. And if her castmates really did respond with support and enthusiasm, that’s probably the best outcome anyone could’ve hoped for. It means the Victorious crew actually liked each other – or at least respected each other enough to be gracious when one of them gets an opportunity.

The Unspoken Part

What nobody’s saying out loud but everyone’s thinking: would Grande ever come back for a cameo? Would Justice? Probably not, right? Grande’s in the middle of one of the biggest pop careers of this generation. Justice is doing her own thing. They don’t need Nickelodeon anymore.

And that’s fine. But it does mean Hollywood Arts will have to stand on its own without relying too heavily on “remember when?” fan service. Monet’s talented enough to carry something if the writing’s there. But man, the expectations are going to be intense. Everyone who grew up with Victorious is going to have opinions about whether this spinoff does justice (no pun intended) to what came before.

For now, it sounds like Monet handled the hardest part – telling the people who mattered that she was doing this without them. The fact that they responded with kindness instead of resentment? That’s actually kind of rare in this industry. And it probably says more about that cast’s real dynamic than any red carpet interview ever did. At least Off Campus's Star Is Celebrating the Book Changes instead of treating creative shifts like betrayals.