Years before Fred Savage was immediately removed from The Wonder Years reboot, the original show’s cast shared some positive experiences they had with the actor while on the show.

According to PageSix, Savage was fired as the executive producer and director of the rebooted series after accusations were made public in early 2022. ABC released a statement about the situation. “Recently, we were made aware of allegations of inappropriate conduct by Fred Savage, and as is policy, an investigation was launched. Upon its completion, the decision was made to terminate his employment as an executive producer and director of The Wonder Years.”

Despite the allegations, The Wonder Years original cast has nothing but praised Fred Savage over the years. Just before the allegations surfaced, Danica McKellar, who played Winnie Cooper, the love interest of Savage’s Kevin Arnold, spoke about having her first kiss with the actor. “I was trying to remain calm and play the scene correctly,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “But I was about to have my first kiss ever. It was my first kiss in real life.”

McKellar also reflected on the relationship she and Savage had behind the scenes. “At that point, [when we filmed the kiss], I kind of thought he might have a crush on me too, but I didn’t know,” the actress recalls. “Later on, he actually wrote me a love letter in real life, and we wrote each other a couple letters. But then that was kind of it.”

Dan Laurie Says the Cast of ‘The Wonder Years’ is Still Close 

Although he didn’t speak directly about Fred Savage, Dan Laurie told AV Club in 2014 that The Wonder Years’ cast still got along. Jason Hervey is one of the leading producers of reality shows. Josh Saviano is a big entertainment lawyer in New York City. He’s handled Broadway shows like Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark and some of the other big ones. And Danica’s my girl. I even babysit her kids sometimes!”

However, Alley Mills, who played Savage’s TV mom, Norma Arnold, had previously spoken about a lawsuit against him. She believes that’s what caused The Wonder Years to get canceled. In 2018, Mills stated that the cast shot the series finale without anyone knowing the show’s fate. “That’s because of a completely ridiculous sexual harassment suit that was going on against Fred Savage,” she explained.

Mills described Savage as the “least offensive, most wonderful, sweet human being” that had ever walked the fact of the Earth. The lawsuit she mentioned was brought on by the costume designer of The Wonder Years, Monique Long. She alleged in her 1993 lawsuit that Savage and Jason Hervey (aka Wayne Arnold) had verbally and physically harassed her. Mills stated that she thought the lawsuit was a big joke and it would blow over. 

“It’s a little bit like what’s happening now,” Mills explained, referring to the #MeToo movement. “ Some innocent people can get caught up in this stuff; it’s very tricky. It was so not true.”