Curious about Netflix‘s That ’90s Show, but never got around to watching it? That’s where we come in.
TVLine binged every episode of the That ’70s Show sequel series, which centered on a new generation of Point Place basement dwellers, including Eric and Donna’s daughter Leia. The show brought back (almost) every major character from the original show — some just for cameos — before the revival was ultimately cancelled.
Despite a lack of screen time, though, we did receive important life updates about the OGs. Not only did we find out what they were up to in the mid-’90s, but in some cases, what happened to them between 1980 and 1995.
What follows is a spoiler-heavy, legacy character guide, breaking down everything we learned across 26 episodes. We also include episode numbers should you want to check out specific appearances. Scroll down to find out what happened to everyone, then hit the comments with your reactions.
Appeared in every episode
Eric’s parents (played again by Kurtwood Smith and Debra Jo Rupp) were living out their golden years in Point Place when a new group of teens — including Eric and Donna’s daughter Leia — swarmed their basement. Kitty was thrilled to see history repeat itself. The same could not be said for Red.
Part 1: Episode 1
Part 2: N/A
Part 3: N/A
Topher Grace’s Eric was husband to Donna and father to Leia. In Part 1, he was an adjunct professor in Chicago, where he taught a course on the religion of Star Wars. The job, he said, came with a permanent parking space… for his bicycle.
In the summer of 1996, Eric received the offer of a lifetime: “He’s on his way to Skywalker Ranch to shadow George Lucas and write a book about the making of the new Star Wars movies,” Donna informed us. “It happened really fast. He got the call, packed his bag and said goodbye to me in Wookiee.”
And just like that, Eric was living in California, more than 2,000 miles from his wife and daughter.
Part 1: Episodes 1, 5 & 10
Part 2: Episodes 1 & 2
Part 3: Episodes 2, 7 & 8
Laura Prepon’s Donna was wife to Eric and mother to Leia. She was also a published author. In the pilot, Red and Kitty mentioned that they read a review of their daughter-in-law’s latest book, the subject of which was never disclosed.
In Part 3, after Eric packed his bags and left for Skywalker Ranch, Donna announced that she would split her time between Chicago (where she worked), Point Place (where Leia would remain for the school year) and California (where she would visit her husband).
Part 1: Episodes 2, 3 & 10
Part 2: N/A
Part 3: N/A
Wilmer Valderrama’s Fez, a former shampoo boy, was the proud owner of hair salon chain Chez Fez, where “every day is a good hair day.” In Part 1, we found him in an on-again/off-again relationship with Red and Kitty’s next-door neighbor Sherri, who just so happened to live in the old Pinciotti house with her two kids, Gwen and Nate.
Part 1: Episode 1
Part 2: N/A
Part 3: N/A
After cheating on Fez with Kelso (boo!), Mila Kunis’ Jackie married Kelso, then divorced him. Then married him again. Then divorced him again. In the pilot, the exes made a pitstop at the Forman residence on their way to get married for a third time. Together they had a son, Leia’s boyfriend Jay.
We did not learn what Jackie did for a living — if she worked at all.
Part 1: Episode 1
Part 2: N/A
Part 3: N/A
Ashton Kutcher’s Kelso was occasionally married to Jackie. We did not learn what he did for work — in That ’70s Show Season 8, he moved to Chicago to work security at the Playboy Club — nor did Part 1 reveal if he had maintained a relationship with his daughter Betsy.
Betsy surfaced in Part 3 and revealed that, between Kelso and Jackie’s first divorce and second marriage… or between their second divorce and third marriage — the details are still a bit fuzzy — Kelso got back together with Betsy’s mom Brooke.
Part 1: Episode 6
Part 2: Episodes 1, 2, 4, 5 & 8
Part 3: Episodes 1, 6 & 7
“Hey there, hi there, ho there!” Don Stark’s alter ego was still rocking a perm when he returned to Point Place after more than a decade, to mark granddaughter Leia’s 15th birthday in Part 1. He brought with him a sack of oranges — you know, just to remind viewers that he moved to Florida following ’70s‘ series finale.
In Part 2, Donna convinces her dad to move back to Point Place to keep a lonesome Red company. It was like he never left.
Part 1: Episodes 2 & 9
Part 2: Episode 8
Part 3: N/A
Tommy Chong’s beloved stoner hadn’t changed a bit, man! But he had developed a love for MTV’s The Real World — and in Episode 2, Leia got her hands on Leo’s Real World audition tape.
In Part 2, Leo retired from the “family business” (aka selling pot out of his home) and his never-before-seen son (played by Kevin Smith) took over.
Part 1: Episode 10
Part 2: N/A
Part 3: Episode 8
Before he was Dean Pelton, Community‘s Jim Rash was Fez’s arch-nemesis. In 1995, Fenton was the owner of the old Pinciotti house (which he rented out to Sherri), along with three other homes, one duplex and a Dippin’ Dots.
But in Part 3, we learned that Fenton was no longer a slumlord. He now worked a nearby pawn shop.
Part 1: N/A
Part 2: Episode 3
Part 3: Episode 7
Seth Green’s Mitch was still obsessed with Donna. Only now he had a mustache. And managed a Hot Topic. And oversaw a local men’s support group.
Part 1: N/A
Part 2: N/A
Part 3: Episode 7
Red’s slacker colleague (played again by Bob Clendenin) was a member of Mitch’s support group. We learned that each of the last three houses that he lived in had burned down… and that he was probably responsible for all three fires.
So…they never mentioned Hyde AT ALL?!
Most of the legacy cast never appears on screen together to discuss!
of course, since they weren’t exactly the main focus of this show they don’t get to have a chance to bring him up
It kind of makes sense given the controversy around the actor right now. They don’t know what is going to happen in his trials, so they are probably trying to keep the options open for him to return in case his case goes his way, but also not have any expectations so they can write him out if things don’t go his way.
I don’t think they will have him return no matter the outcome of his trial. The other OG cast members only have a few minutes’ screen time anyway.
The timeliness of That 70s show would have Hyde as a long time kid that hung in reds basement to guy that lived in Reds house for about 3 to 4 years. Even though he maybe son Red never had. He was a loner owned a Record Shop. If he just stopped living at Reds house, I don’t know that he would still be hanging out with his adopted family 10 years later, with Eric gone.
Granted it could of been written the other way easily if he was involved with show.
On the rest of cast, I know we as audience want to see them, but outside of Bob the rest of the parents were barely on the original show, outside of a few episodes, the hilarious parents take kid to work day. I guess Hydes patents
“I guess Hyde patents …”
I see this post was at 2:59 AM, so perhaps pete5125 was partaking of the wacky stuff, too.
He’s going on trial for rape in real life, so that’s probs why
But That 90s Show is fiction and not real life.
In flashbacks in Part 1, he was edited out.
You don’t mention an *alleged* serial rapist.
Randy died on the way back to his home planet.
“I have to go now, my planet needs me.”
Wow, Randy came from another planet?
Hold up, Betsy and Brooke are retconned? I really really hope that isn’t the case because personally, it isn’t a good move imo
also I don’t mean to reply to you 😅 My tablet I’m typing on right now is probably glitching on my end
“For all we know”
I am not interested enough to watch, although I liked That’s 70s Show… I am curious why Kitty doesn’t have a new 90’s hairdo…
She totally should have had a version of Jennifer Anniston’s Rachel hairdo. It was peak mid 1990’s.
…or if not her, then Jackie should have been sporting one for sure!
Kinda lame that they didn’t get at least one scene with Eric, Donna, Kelso, Jackie, and Fez all together. I assume it had to do with all of their busy schedules and availability, but still. Wasted opportunity there.
I love your site, but the ads and pop-ups are insufferable. None of the other pop culture/entertainment sites I frequent have ads as overbearing and disruptive to the content and functionality of the site.
Same! This is my favorite entertainment news site & has been for years but the ads/pop ups are making it incredibly difficult to make it through a single article without multiple refreshes.
Loved seeing the old gang again, even if we didn’t see them together. They were as good as ever. The new kids didn’t have the chemistry like the originals did, but I did start to like them better the more I watched.
I think the Jackie/Kelso thing was probably the best way they could go. Hyde and Jackie were widely popular and a lot of fans wanted them to end up together. No one liked Jackie with Fez. I think this way the door is still open for Jackie and Hyde to get back together and demonstrates that Kelso isn’t her soulmate or they wouldn’t always break up. I know Danny probably won’t ever be on the show, even if he’s found not guilty, but there’s nothing keeping them from reuniting Hyde and Jackie offscreen and just mentioning it in passing dialogue.
I like Jackie with Fex hopefully they end up together.
I don’t think they’re going to even mention Hyde so I doubt Jackie and Hyde will be getting together again.
Yeah it’s stupid being it’s a major og character simply being mentioned that’s separate from the real life actor and they aren’t even on screen, most viewers are smart enough to separate the two 😒
Call me crazy but if there’s a season 2, the show needs to pivot to the original cast and catching up with them and the kids need to be more background. They obviously aren’t the draw of this and can’t carry the series. Give the viewers what they want.
The kids will gel the more we get to see them. This was only 10 episodes, and there was a lot to setup. But I do hope they’re able to lock in deals to get the OG cast back a bit more next season. I didn’t realize we were literally only going to get 1 Kelso/Jackie scene. I’d love to see Jackie/Donna catch up, and some scenes of the whole gang together.
So would I. I guess we were lucky we got that much, but I wanted more from the OG cast. A mention of Hyde would have also been nice. Watching this made me go back and restart That 70’s Show. It was so danged good in its first seasons.
Personally, I would like to see the new gang trying to get the old gang back together. There’ll be a lot of drama and tears
Also this is a sequel series so I doubt the original cast would be the focus (although an episode or two about them would be nice). Give the new kids the chance. I don’t understand why they don’t like new gang. What’s their problem with them?
Just totally loved the show, if not for various feelings/stages of nostalgia… being a teen of the same age in 1995, being a fan of That 70s Show, seeing Eric having the best career ever and being a great dad, more Red and Kitty being the best… just a fun show. i mean, Kitty and Red remain the best parts of every single episode of both shows, hands down.
If the new show is set in the 90s, why does everyone look like they’ve aged 40 years since the show that was set in the 79s?
Eric’s age was mentioned to be 38, but to be honest, they looked a lot older than that. Topher is 44, but his Eric looked older than that.
Eric/Topher literally still looks the same after 15 years though. He doesn’t even look older than 38 to me.
To me, Topher looked 10 years older than he does on “Home Economics.” Maybe because he seemed to be wearing a straight version of Ben Platt’s wig from the “Dear Evan Hansen” movie.
Seeing the original cast on the show was the best part of the show! Fez was great! Loved Kelso & Jackie! And Red and Kitty really made the show! I even liked the one new adult – Andrea Anders. The kids were just okay. Honestly I fast forwarded through most of the scenes with the kids. But really enjoyed the original cast. Wish they had brought the show back focusing on them and not the kids! That would have been a winner! The new kids just don’t have the spark, humor, sarcasm, or chemistry of the original cast.
I’m not done yet, I think I’m on ep 8. I don’t find anything at all with the new kids funny.
What I don’t understand though, is how did Red and Kitty not know that Kelso and Jackie were married multiple times and had a kid? They still live in the same town and wouldn’t Eric have filled him in on their lives? Does Eric not even know?
Critical acclaim isn’t good. I however enjoyed being back in that world. I laughed several times.
I’m probably in the minority but I wouldn’t mind a second season.
Based on reaction though. I doubt it’ll happen.
I would have loved the legacy cast at least in one scene together.
I’m a fan of nostalgia so that helped for me. Now I’m looking forward to who’s the boss reboot on freevee.
The original show was poo and so is this. It was obviously an absolute fail from the initial premise. What a steaming pile, these tv execs must be blind or stupid.
You’re replies are so generic as to be laughable. Mommy is calling from upstairs.
Geez, there’s always one….
I feel like it’s a great start and look forward to having a few more laughs. Everyone is doing a great job with the new generation! My hats off to them!
I agree, though we seem to be in the minority. Have really been enjoying the show so far. Would love to see more of the og cast in S2, tho don’t think they should be the main focus. It’s not really what the show is about…
Yep I agree.
That 70s show is the go to show for my husband and daughter to connect and so a 90s version is excellent -keeps them busy and happily occupied— occasionally I join them.😊
I don’t see that exchange between Jay and Betsy as confirming Kelso got back together with Brooke. Jay was saying his parents stayed together to which she responded “Not for those weird three years in the middle”
I interpreted that as a reference to their divorces, not explicitly he went back to Brooke. Would she refer to her parents getting been together as “weird”?
I’m sick of Netflix.