‘Boy Meets World’ spin-off ‘Girl Meets World’ casts best friend for Riley Matthews

The cast for Girl Meets World, the Disney Channel spin-off of Boy Meets World, has a new member. Sabrina Carpenter, 13, will play Riley Matthews’ best friend.

Entertainment weekly first reported Thursday that the Pennsylvania native will play Maya Fox, a rebellious best friend for Riley, who will be played by Rowan Blanchard. She joined the cast earlier this week.

Carpenter is a Disney veteran at age 13. She has a recording contract with the company’s Hollywood Records and has released the single “Smile,” which has been featured on several Disney CDs. She was also cast in a new Fox comedy titled The Goodwin Games and will appear in Disney’s Austin and Ally.

Girl Meets World’s cast already includes Blanchard and Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel returning to play Cory and Topanga. The series will focus on their daughter.

EW is also reporting that Disney is looking for actors to play Cory and Topanga’s teen son Elliott Matthews and two other characters named Tristan Friar and Shamus Farkle.

Production on the pilot will start in March and if it does go to series, it will air during the 2013-2014 season.

Executive producer Michael Jacobs sat down with The Hollywood Reporter recently to confirm that they are listening to fan requests.

“...Everyone at Disney is taking great stock in articles that say ‘these are the five things we demand from Girl Meets World,’ ‘these are the ways the show has to go,’” he explained. “If we do a redo of the original series, that’s no good. Nobody wants that.” He noted that the world has changed since Cory and Topanga fell in love and Girl Meets World will reflect that.