One of Nickelodeon’s most iconic series may soon return to television. During the ’90s, the children’s programming network served as the home for groundbreaking live-action series like Kenan & Kel and All That, and zany game shows, including Figure It Out and Legends of the Hidden Temple. But many of the network’s most popular projects were animated series, including Rugrats, Doug, and SpongeBob SquarePants. Now, one of Nickelodeon’s most recognizable animated characters may enjoy a long-awaited revival over 20 years after its final episode aired.
Among the popular animated series on the network in the late ’90s and early ’00s was Hey Arnold!, created by Craig Bartlett. The series followed the adventures of fourth-grader Arnold Shortman and his friends as they navigated urban life. Known for its surprising depth, the show was lauded by critics for its portrayal of the challenges young people face in urban communities. The series debuted on Oct. 7, 1996 and spawned a 2002 theatrical release. It ended its five-season run unannounced on June 8, 2004. But according to one of the series’ writers and directors, fans may soon see new episodes of Hey Arnold! if things go according to plan.
During an interview with The Direct, Hey Arnold! writer and director Joe Purdy spoke about the possibility of bringing back the hit NickToon series and indicated that talks of a revival are underway:
“Absolutely. Yes, yes, yes. There is an ever-changing environment of the business and people who are making decisions. It’s the cliche story…But be sure, we are [having conversations].”
Purdy is likely referencing the evolving complexities that followed Skydance Media’s 2025 merger with Paramount, which resulted in David Ellison taking a leadership role at the combined company. Subsequent merger proposals and legal challenges — including later litigation by a coalition of states over a proposed merger with Warner Bros. — have fueled further uncertainty about the studio’s future output.
If the revival moves forward, Purdy revealed that he already has ideas about how nine-year-old Arnold and his friends will be portrayed, indicating that the show wouldn’t age the characters up much:
“We’re asked that a lot. Would they be much older? Probably not. I think a year or two older. They’re so beloved.”
The series’ creator, Craig Bartlett, also spoke about how a continuation series might depict changes to Arnold’s world over time while acknowledging nostalgia for the ’90s:
“So, we talk about the ’90s, which is really the conversation, because people are so nostalgic for the ’90s, and for good reason…When we got the chance to make ‘The Jungle Movie,’ that came out in 2017. So already, almost 20 years had gone by, and so the question was, ‘What’s happened to Arnold’s neighborhood?’ And we had some gentrification going on. So I would continue that gentrification thing…and I think that would be kind of the interesting story: what’s good about the changes and the progress, and what’s been lost?”
The creator went on to indicate that, while the planned revival will continue tackling real-world issues that affect urban communities without being overly political, it will still evolve with the times:
“Yeah, we probably would still not be political… You had to be careful not to be too topical, is kind of the main point, because cartoons are supposed to be evergreen. They’re supposed to be, a ’90s cartoon can play perfectly well now, because we had an eye toward that. And technology keeps changing. That’s the biggest change is technology. And when we made ‘The Jungle Movie’ in 2017, we gave Rhonda a cell phone, but all the other kids didn’t have one. I think they’d all have to have smartphones now, I’m afraid. And maybe that would be one of the things we’d talk about; attention spans getting frayed by having a little computer in your hand all day long.”
Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie, a television film released in November 2017, continued and resolved several plotlines from the original series. The movie ended with Arnold beginning the sixth grade with his friends Gerald, Phoebe, and Helga, who is implied to be Arnold’s girlfriend. While fans wait to see if those storylines will continue in a potential revival, they can catch up on all five seasons of Hey Arnold! on Paramount+.
