There's Still Hope For 'Girl Meets World'

Things looked bleak for Riley Matthews as of this week, when Rider Strong (who reprised his role of Cory's best friend Shawn Hunter) casually mentioned during his podcast Literary Disco that the Boy Meets World sequel had "ended." However, if you've been losing sleep over the possibility that Girl Meets World has been canceled then go ahead and press pause on the insomnia, because new information suggests that Girl Meets World hasn't been canceled after all. Not yet, anyway. The hard-working writers on the show have spoken out via Twitter. They start by stressing that as great as Shawn Hunter (or, ok, his real-life alter ego) is, he isn't infallible:

As much as I love Shawn Hunter, having created his character and everything, you have to remember that he was wrong a lot.

They go on to say "There is no official word as yet" and have confirmed that Disney's decision on whether to go forward with a fourth season for the show is "coming soon." So, yes. As wonderful as it is that the fans of the show have already mobilized in such great numbers under the hashtag #SaveGMW to campaign for a fourth installment, they should maybe hold off until Disney actually makes a real decision.

As of yet, Rider Strong hasn't replied to the writers' statement via Twitter, which could suggest maybe, as they've maintained, Shawn Hunter isn't always right. Fingers crossed. Girl Meets World is far too warm and funny and well-intentioned to be over yet, right? Besides which, according to Screener, while the ratings aren't what they were in its first season, when it drew 5.2 million viewers for its debut, they're still respectable. The site also states "The six episodes that have aired this fall (starting Sept. 16) have averaged about 1.5 million viewers." So there's no clear evidence that the show's done for yet.

Still, if you're a super fan and you think the earlier fans gather to persuade Disney, the better, then you should head over to Change.org to sign the following petition — which, as of the time of writing, is still just under 25,000 signatures shy of their stated goal of 75,000 signatures to send to Disney. If you'd rather just enjoy what's still here rather than freaking out about the future, there are still three new episodes of the current season of Girl Meets World to enjoy. The first, an hourlong episode: "World Meets Girl," drops on Jan. 6, while the season finale, the not-totally-auspiciously-named "Girl Meets Goodbye" will go out on Jan. 20.

In short: nothing's decided yet. So let's keep hoping and enjoying the show — it's what your dream BFFs Riley and Maya would want.