Despite the trend of ’90s sitcom reboots, Jaleel White, best known for his iconic role as Steve Urkel on Family Matters, has made it clear that the TGIF classic won’t be getting a reboot anytime soon.
White explained that the magic of Family Matters can’t simply be recreated—and he isn’t interested in forcing a revival for the sake of nostalgia alone, he shared during 90s Con 2024.
In a video posted by Simon & Schuster, the publisher of White’s memoir Growing Up Urkel, White, now 47, reflected on the uniqueness of Family Matters, not just as a series but as a story of unexpected success and groundbreaking representation.
“Somewhere around 2013, 2014, I was approached by one of our former producers that Netflix had interest in doing a reboot of Family Matters on the heels of Fuller House having done so well,” he shared. “That didn’t make any sense to me. I didn’t feel that it was right for us to have to copy what Full House had done to fit inside someone’s business model to capture the magic that made our show make sense.”
For White, the story behind Family Matters was even more compelling than what appeared onscreen. “Going on to a show that was never intended for me to be the star of, making it last for nine years, growing up on a studio lot and in public school at the same time, that to me was the greater story that needed to be told for today.”
He pitched this idea to one of his former executive producers but was dismissed, being told that “nobody’s interested in [his] memoirs.” Reflecting on it now, he shard with a smile, “But here we are 12 years later, and I think there’s some people that might be interested in those memoirs.”
White’s highly-anticipated memoir, Growing Up Urkel, hits shelves on November 19 and will offer fans a firsthand look into his life beyond the suspenders and snorts that made him a household name.
At just twelve, White’s one-episode role as Steve Urkel in Family Matters transformed into a nine-year phenomenon, forever cementing the character in pop culture. But as Urkel became an icon, White dealt with the pressures of growing up under an intensely scrutinizing spotlight. In the memoir, White details his journey from the family sitcom soundstage to UCLA’s campus, exploring the challenges and triumphs of transitioning from America’s favorite nerd to a young man finding his own path.
White’s reluctance to reboot the series also comes from a deeper respect for the show’s original cast, which included several members who have since passed away. Actress Michelle Thomas, who played Urkel’s love interest, Myra Monkhouse, passed in 1998, and Rosetta LeNoire, who played the wise matriarch Mother Winslow, passed in 2002.
“We’ve lost cast members,” White said solemnly while on stage at 90s Con 2024. “If Michelle had been here I might have given it the old college try to create the triangle of Michelle and Kellie, but without that, I just don’t want to do it as a straight Fuller House reboot, it wouldn’t work.”
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