Zoey 101 die-hards still want Zoey and Chase to get together—even after the Nickelodeon show’s end in 2008. And the release last week of creator Dan Schneider’s “What Did Zoey Say?”reunion clip answered the question on everybody’s mind still, 10 years later.
While it was known Chase was in love with Zoey, it was always a question of how Zoey felt about Chase. Now Schneider dropped a video where character Michael reveals to Chase that Zoey called him a potential soulmate. Chase—and fans—went wild.
In the episode that aired in 2005, the characters of the show buried personal items in a time capsule, to be opened 20 years later. Zoey decided to film a DVD of herself talking about all her friends, including her best guy friend and love interest, Chase. Of course, Zoey doesn’t tell Chase (or viewers) what she said about him, but teased that he could find out in 10 years.
Right on time, Schneider delivers, and fans took to social media to react to Zoey’s answer. Users are circulating a photo on Instagram demanding a cast reunion, proper couples and all of course.
Fans even took a photo of Jamie Lynn Spears (the actress who plays Zoey) and her IRL husband, then digitally altered Chase’s face over her spouse’s.
Elsewhere a nostalgia wave washed over fans in an 835-comment Reddit thread on r/television as they reminisced about the show. The top-rated comment by Reddit user Spinwheeling noted how Chase’s line in the new video is “classic Teen Nick.” Another user, yeartwo, called the dialogue “300% Teen Nick.”
The reaction on Tumblr wasn’t as kind, however, as users threw out question after question to Schneider’s vague revelation. When Michael reads Chase the script he copied from watching Zoey’s DVD, for example, she casually says she thinks Chase might have feelings for her and that she might reciprocate. Not only that be she thinks they might be soulmates.
User slytherin-away-from-you criticizes Chase’s character, who was in the midst of proposing to a girl who isn’t Zoey, for capriciously ditching said girl upon hearing Zoey say he might love him. Seeing as the show takes place in real time, another user, apathyfairy, questioned the legitimacy of Chase’s surprise. “Wouldn’t they have stayed in touch?” she said. “They both had cell phones and laptops, wouldn’t they have talked or texted? Emailed even?”
Any way you cut it, talk of the show is abuzz as former fans try to make sense of it all. For the time being, it seems all that can be done is to wait and see what will come of the teasing white words “To be continued…?”
Screengrab via Dan Schneider/YouTube