Sam Puckett was briefly mentioned in the premiere of iCarly revival on June 17. Carly revealed Sam’s whereabouts during a conversation with Freddie. “I just want to make things again,” Carly admitted. Freddie replied, “You don’t need a partner to do that.”
Carly responded, “Yeah, I don’t need a partner. I need Sam. But she’s off following her bliss with that biker gang.” The biker gang is called The Obliterators. “Hope she’s okay,” Freddie admits. Carly quips, “It’s Sam. I hope they’re okay.”
Sam’s absence isn’t a surprise. Jennette McCurdy was clear that she had retired from acting prior to the revival. “I quit a few years ago [in 2017] because I initially didn’t want to do it,” Jennette admitted in a March 2021 interview with Anna Faris. “My mom put me in it when I was six, and by sort of age, I guess 10 or 11, I was the main financial support for my family. My family didn’t have a lot of money, and this was the way out, which I actually think was helpful in driving me to some degree of success.”
Jennette, who was an original cast member during iCarly’s original run, later added that she was “so ashamed” of her acting roles in the past. “I resent my career in a lot of ways. I feel so unfulfilled by the roles that I played and felt like it was the most cheesy, embarrassing. I did the shows I was on from, like, 13 to 21, and by 15 I was already embarrassed.”
Jerry Trainor and Nathan Kress both returned as Spencer and Freddie for the Paramount+ revival. They told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY that they support Jennette’s decision to not come back.
“She’s decided to move on and we’re super proud of her and super happy for her and we miss her,” Jerry told HollywoodLife. “She’s very much a part of our family in this world. But that being said, it has given us the space to introduce new characters, to have new voices, and to go in I think directions that are unexpected and might be welcome.” The first 3 episodes of iCarly are available on Paramount+.