Raven’s Home: Anneliese van der Pol talks returning to Chelsea role, much more
At first van der Pol couldn’t believe she would return to the small screen. Take a look at what she had to say about revisiting the series and her character in a new interview with TVLine:
“[Raven-Symoné] and I first talked about it a year ago when we were both in New York. I thought she was just calling me to hang, but then she told me that she and Adam Bonnett were discussing bringing the show back. Long story short, I just didn’t believe her. I was too worried to let it sink in for fear that it might not go through. But then it did go through, and it moved along real quickly. People don’t normally get second chances like this, so I could not be happier.”
The new show follows Raven and Chelsea as divorced, single mothers trying to balance their lives with their children’s. This is a concept that van der Pol explains has never really been explored by Disney Channel, and she was eager to see that explored further:
“[Divorce] is very much a part of the show, and I could not be more proud to be a part of that. That’s So Raven revolutionized Disney Channel in a lot of ways, some that people may not know, but our show was very diverse. We were a lot of firsts for Disney, especially doing so many episodes. We talk heavily about the characters’ exes, and we’ve talked about possibly doing a show regarding Chelsea’s last name. In the episode we’re shooting this week, Raven is a little down on herself as a single mother. She feels alone and trapped, and Chelsea kind of has to bring her back to the surface. They’re doing this as two divorced moms, and how great is that? We’re representing single moms all over the world, and I think that’s great.”
As fans know, Chelsea was always a little kooky and not always with it, but she always did her best in order to make everyone laugh. Now, this characteristic of hers is her biggest struggle because she has to balance her silly demeanor with her responsibilities as the mother of a young son. It’s a difficult struggle, and one that the show could explore in many different ways.
When it comes to friendship, art imitates life
Even after all these years Symoné and van der Pol have remained friends and also believe that their characters have been a constant presence in each other’s lives. Anneliese described that further in the aforementioned TVLine interview:
“The characters, I think, have also stayed in each other’s lives. And not much about Chelsea has changed. She’s still quite kooky and not always completely with it, but when it comes to more emotional situations, she still has heart like she always did. And Raven’s still getting them both into mischief; it’s just a little more adult mischief. I really don’t think the characters have changed very much, except that they’re now adults and mothers. They have this whole other responsibility of raising children.”
And while the show will star Symoné and van der Pol, Raven’s Home will largely center around their children – including Raven’s son Booker, who inherits his mother’s ability to see the future. But fans shouldn’t worry Raven and Chelsea will be featured giving their children a run for their money with shenanigans. This should be a nice change for those used to the format of parents just being boring or giving constant lectures to their children to behave.
“I don’t know if the parents are given the opportunity to be as funny as they can be sometimes. They’re often the B-story, which we are too at times, but Disney also has a lot of confidence in us. We’re allowed to be wacky and zany and funny, because we proved ourselves before. I’m hoping this is a cool show where the parents are cool too, which is not always the case.”
Raven’s Home premieres Friday, July 21 at 10/9c, following the world premiere of Descendants 2 on Disney Channel. In terms of ratings and platforms for the new show, there are few out there that could possibly be better.
For more news related to Raven’s Home, be sure to visit this link. Just in case you haven’t seen much in the way of videos on the show yet, take a look at the latest one below. (Photo: Disney Channel.)
This story was written by Samantha D’Amico. If you want to follow her on Twitter, you can do so at @SAM_iamXO.