There are certain movies that hit you right at the core, that wrap around your brain like a warm flannel and never quite let go. For me, that movie was Clueless. It wasn’t just a teen comedy—it was a full-on cultural meteor that crash-landed into my adolescent psyche. And at the center of it all was Alicia Silverstone as Cher Horowitz, the fashion-forward, blissfully oblivious, unexpectedly insightful queen bee of Beverly Hills. I was 13 when it came out. She wasn’t just a crush—she was the crush. The type that rewires your dopamine receptors. I used to haunt the library magazine racks, flipping through whatever battered copy of Tiger Beat or BOP had landed that month, just to get a new photo or interview. I watched The Crush more times than I can count, rented The Babysitter and True Crime like they were cinematic gospel, and basically became a one-man Alicia Silverstone appreciation society.
So yeah, when I heard she was returning to the role of Cher for a new Clueless sequel series on Peacock, my immediate reaction was… cautious optimism. Excitement tempered with an adult awareness that nothing gold can stay, and Hollywood rarely revisits the past without sanding down the edges or slapping on a fresh coat of irony.
This time around, the show’s being developed by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage—you know, the Gossip Girl people—which does make some kind of poetic sense. The show’s also got Amy Heckerling, the original writer-director, signed on as executive producer. That sounds good on paper, though it’s not clear how involved she actually is. If she’s just a name on the credits and not shaping the voice, that’s a big question mark. Because Clueless without Heckerling’s voice is like a Dior dress on sale at Target—still stylish, maybe, but not quite the same thing.
Let’s not forget this isn’t the first time Clueless made the jump to TV. There was that late-‘90s series starring Rachel Blanchard, which was equal parts charming and weirdly sanitized. Paul Rudd even showed up in one episode and made out with Blanchard—yes, that Paul Rudd. Meaning, for those keeping score, he got to make out with both Cher actresses. The man is a vampire and a lucky bastard. And while that show had some fun with the formula, it never quite nailed the alchemy of the original.
Now, here we are, nearly three decades later, trying to revive something that was a lightning-in-a-bottle moment born of a very specific time and place. The Beverly Hills of Clueless was a candy-coated dreamworld full of flip phones, knee-high socks, and aggressively overused valley-speak. Trying to transplant that into 2025, with TikTok influencers, Instagram filters, and a culture that weaponizes irony faster than Cher could say “as if,” is either going to be brilliant or a beautiful disaster.
And here’s the elephant in the room: will we see the return of Dionne? Played by Stacey Dash, Dionne was iconic in her own right—equally stylish, sharp, and just as unforgettable. But Dash’s real-life politics have turned her into something of a third rail. After aligning herself with right-wing media and becoming a vocal Trump supporter during his first term, she more or less vanished from mainstream Hollywood. I’m a liberal through and through, and I don’t agree with Dash on anything, full stop—but I also think pretending Dionne never existed would be a mistake. Whether Dash returns or not, the show needs to acknowledge Dionne. She mattered. She still does.
Same goes for the rest of the supporting cast. I’d love to see Donald Faison back as Murray, or Wallace Shawn as Mr. Hall. And if we’re really going there, give me Amber, give me Christian, give me a cameo from Paul Rudd just to make the internet explode. But more than anything, the show has to honor Brittany Murphy’s Tai. Her death in 2009 was a gut punch, and the absence of that sweet, awkward energy would be felt in every frame. A tribute isn’t optional—it’s necessary.
Look, nostalgia is easy. It gets eyeballs on a trailer, maybe even a first episode. But it’s not enough. We’ve seen this play out before. Fuller House lasted five seasons purely on the strength of warm fuzzies and theme song goosebumps. That ‘90s Show had a buzzy launch but crashed fast when it became clear the new cast couldn’t carry the vibe. The bar for revivals isn’t just “remember this?”—it’s “does this still matter?”
What gives me hope is Alicia. She’s been flirting with this comeback for a while now—showing up in that 2023 Super Bowl ad in full Cher regalia, still charming, still radiant. Hollywood didn’t quite know what to do with her post-Clueless, but she’s never lost that spark. And if anyone can make this work—can bring that character back in a way that speaks to both Gen X and Gen Z—it’s her.
I want this to succeed. Not just because I’m a sucker for nostalgia, but because Clueless still holds up. It was never just about clothes or slang. It was about finding your place in a world that often felt way too complicated. Cher’s journey from superficial matchmaker to someone who actually gives a shit is timeless. And if the new series can tap into even a fraction of that honesty—while updating the lens for a new era—it might not just be good. It might actually matter.
I’m 43 now. But I’m still that kid who memorized every line of Clueless, who quoted “everywhere in the Valley takes 20 minutes” while stuck on the 101, who wore out his VHS of The Crush, and who thought Alicia Silverstone was the coolest person on Earth. And if she’s coming back as Cher?
I’m in. Totally.
Hollywood After Dark 