Jaleel White has no interest in rebooting the hit show Family Matters.
The show ran for 8 seasons from 1989 to 1997 and according to White, Netflix wanted to do a reboot of the show, just like they did for Fuller House the spinoff to Full House. While promoting his new memoir, Growing Up Urkel, the actor explained why he turned down the reboot.
“Somewhere around 2013, 2014, I was approached by one of our former producers that Netflix had interest in doing a reboot of Family Matters on the heels of Fuller House having done so well. And that didn’t make any sense to me,” he said.
“I didn’t feel that it was right for us to have to copy what Full House had done to fit inside someone’s business model to capture the magic that made our show make sense,” White continued. “What I imagine for any reboot effort would be inspired by what really happened. How Family Matters came to pass is actually a greater story than what was made up inside the show.”
He added that he wasn’t supposed to be the star of the show. However, ended up playing the role of Steve Urkel for nine years. “That, to me, was the greater story that needed to be told for today,” he said.
Previously, White has expressed the impossibility of playing Urkel again. “If Michelle had been here, I might have given it the old college try to create the triangle of Michelle and Kellie, but without that, I just don’t want to do it as a straight Fuller House reboot, it wouldn’t work.”
Jaleel White also revealed that his Urkel voice damaged his actual voice. “I spoke to a doctor. What happened is during puberty I spoke at the same pitch for extended periods of time,” he said. “If the pitch had been going all over the place I wouldn’t have damaged it quite as much. It’s been in remission and I’m fine now.”