The Wonder Years is an American coming-of-age comedy television series created by Saladin K. Patterson for ABC. Inspired by the 1988 series of the same name, it follows Dean Williams' life as he grows up in Montgomery, Alabama in the late 1960s.
Premise[]
Inspired by the award-winning series of the same name, "The Wonder Years" is a coming-of-age story set in the late 1960s that takes a nostalgic look at a Black middle-class family in Montgomery, Alabama, through the point of view of imaginative 12-year-old Dean. With the wisdom of his adult years, Dean's hopeful and humorous recollections show how his family found their "wonder years" in a turbulent time.
Cast[]
- Elisha Williams as Dean Williams
- Dulé Hill as Bill Williams, Dean's father
- Saycon Sengbloh as Lillian Williams, Dean's mother
- Laura Kariuki as Kim Williams, Dean's sister
- Amari O'Neil as Cory Long, Dean's friend
- Julian Lerner as Brad Hitman, Dean's friend
- Milan Ray as Keisa Clemmons, Dean's crush
- Narrated By
- Don Cheadle as an older Dean
- Guest Starring
- Allen Maldonado as Cliff Long, the school basketball coach, who also works with Lillian.
- Co-Starring
Episodes[]
| Season One | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Episode | Summary | Airdate | # |
| Pilot | Struggling to figure out where he fits in, Dean decides to pursue his calling as "The Great Uniter" and attempts to organize the first integrated baseball game between his team and his friend Brad's team. | September 22, 2021 | 1X01 |
| Green Eyed Monster | While Dean reckons with his first taste of heartbreak and betrayal, the adults in his life are overly empathetic and assume his grief is from mourning current events. | September 29, 2021 | 1X02 |
| The Club | When Dean stumbles upon some racy literature and shares it with friends at school, Bill and Lillian must navigate uncharted territory as parents. | October 6, 2021 | 1X03 |
| The Workplace | Dean heads to band practice with Bill, but the grown folks' business at the music studio prompts Lillian to pick Dean up; Dean learns what his mum does while he's at school all day. | October 13, 2021 | 1X04 |
| The Lock In | Dean is reluctant to attend the annual church lock-in until Kim tells him it's where she got her first kiss; then he enlists his friends to help him pair up with Keisa. | October 20, 2021 | 1X05 |
| Be Prepared | When Coach Long and Bill take the boys on a camping trip as part of their newly formed scout troop, their starkly different approaches to the outdoors show Dean that his father isn't good at everything. | October 27, 2021 | 1X06 |
| Independence Day | Bill comes up with a solution for Kim's car desires, but the solution is only pleasing to him; Dean is worried about seeming uncool when Clisby ends up chaperoning him and his friends. | November 3, 2021 | 1X07 |
| Science Fair | After seeing Dean bullied by Michael after school Lillian goes to confront his parents and learns he needs more compassion than discipline. Much to Dean's dismay, she takes Michael under her wing and helps him with his project for the science fair - an event where Dean typically excels. | November 17, 2021 | 1X08 |
| Home for Christmas | Dean can't wait to spend Christmas with his older brother, Bruce, when he returns home from Vietnam; Bruce struggles to adjust to life back in Montgomery; the rest of the family rely on their favorite holiday traditions to bring cheer. | December 1 2021 | 1X09 |
| Lads and Ladies and Us | Bill and Lillian join high society club Lads & Ladies as a way to introduce Kim and Dean to positive influences in the community; Bill, Kim and Dean fit right in, but things take a turn when Lillian is treated differently for being a working mom. | January 5 2022 | 1X10 |
| Brad Mitzvah | Brad works through his nerves preparing for his bar mitzvah speech; Dean ends his friendship with Keisa when Charlene tells him he can't be friends with other girls. | January 12 2022 | 1X11 |
| I'm With the Band | When Dean loses his position as first chair saxophone in the school band, Bill lays the pressure on him to earn it back. | January 19 2022 | 1X12 |
| The Valentine's Day Dance | Dean's plans to ask Keisa to the Valentine's Day Dance are foiled when another boy asks her out first; Bill and Lillian make Kim sign up for a Big Sister program to have extracurricular activities for her college applications. | Feb 2 2022 | 1X13 |
| Country Dean | The family spends spring break with Lillian’s parents in the countryside, and Dean lies to his cousins about city life in Montgomery to impress them. Meanwhile, Lillian helps to settle a land dispute between her parents and their neighbors to impress her difficult-to-please mother. | Feb 23 2022 | 1X14 |
| Black Teacher | When their teacher goes on leave, Dean, Cory and Keisa are excited to be taught by Mr. Brady, the school's first Black teacher; Mr. Brady encourages the students to try out for the Knowledge Bowl team, where Dean faces some challenges. | March 2, 2022 | 1X15 |
| The Sleepover | When Dean learns that Corey's dad, Coach Long, is in the doghouse, he struggles to keep this secret from his friend. | March 16, 2022 | 1X16 |
| Jobs and Hangouts | Kim is excited to start her new job as a waitress at the local diner, which Dean adopts as his local hangout; when Kim experiences drama with her friends, she finds unlikely allies in a tough co-worker and her younger brother. | March 23, 2022 | 1X17 |
| Goose Grease | When Dean comes down with chickenpox on his way to a hunting trip with Bill and Grandaddy Clisby, Lillian forces the three of them to quarantine together; Clisby pushes homemade remedies on them out of his mistrust of doctors. | April 6, 2022 | 1X18 |
| Love & War | When Bruce returns home from Vietnam, the family is shocked to find out he is dating, and eager to share his life with, an older woman with a son; when they learn more about Bruce's last deployment, they come together to support him. | April 13, 2022 | 1X19 |
| Bill's New Gig | Bill is excited to have made tenure at the university, only to find that his focus on career and family has cost him a spot in his band; Bruce adjusts to living at home. | April 20, 2022 | 1X20 |
| Where No Dean Has Been Before | Dean tries to impress Keisa's cool new boyfriend by inviting him and his friends to a party Kim is throwing while Bill and Lillian are away for the night; things get out of hand just as Bill and Lillian arrive home. | May 11, 2022 | 1X21 |
| Love, Dean | It's the end of the school year, and summer excitement is all around; Bill and Lillian each receive major career opportunities; Dean and Keisa take shelter together as a tornado tears through. | May 18, 2022 | 1X22 |
Production[]
The Wonder Years was announced on July 8, 2020, when the ABC gave the project a pilot order with Fred Savage, the star of the original series, attached to direct and executive produce. In January 2021, the pilot was confirmed, with production taking place in Atlanta, Georgia. In March 2021, Saycon Sengbloh, Elisha "EJ" Williams, Dulé Hill, Laura Kariuki, Milan Ray, Julian Lerner, and Amari O'Neil joined the cast, with Don Cheadle announced to serve as the show's narrator. On May 14, 2021, The Wonder Years was given a series order. In July, Allen Maldonado was cast in a recurring role.
At a Television Critics Association panel discussion, crew members revealed that the series would tackle major events from 1968, including the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. When asked about casting Maldonado, whose character at the time was speculated to be Afro-Latino like Maldonado, writer and executive producer Saladin K. Patterson said they "wanted to represent the diaspora of Blackness for sure. And some of that is in appearance and looks but some of it is just in the background and those individual stories that come from those mixes of cultures. He certainly fits into that tableau that we want to set."
Gallery[]
Character Photos[]
Episode Photos[]
Videos[]
Media[]
- In ‘The Wonder Years,’ Dulé Hill Looks Forward, and Back (THE NEW YORK TIMES • SEPTEMBER 2021)