Things are going to feel really familiar when That ’90s Show premieres on Netflix: same set, same parental figures (Kurtwood Smith and Debra Jo Rupp reprising their roles as Red and Kitty), same couples that defined That ’70s Show. Specifically, the series will see the return of Eric (Topher Grace) and Donna (Laura Prepon), as well as Jackie (Mila Kunis) and Kelso (Ashton Kutcher).
Eric and Donna, the series’ central couple, were always endgame–literally, the pair reunited in the finale. But Jackie was romantically involved with most of her other male castmates, starting with Kelso before notably dating Hyde (Danny Masterson) and then finally giving Fez (Wilmer Valderrama) a chance in the final season. Given that dating history, Kunis was a bit surprised where she found her character when filming the spin-off.
“My [real-life] husband [Kutcher] and I are together in it, which is weird ’cause we shouldn’t have been,” she tells Access Hollywood. “You know what, I called BS. I was like, ‘My character would be with Fez.’ I think that I ended up with Wilmer’s character. And I was like, ‘Why are you and I together?’ And also, he was married when ’70’s ended to Shannon Elizabeth’s character, I think.” (Elizabeth played Brooke, the mother of Kelso’s child, for whom Kelso moved to Chicago at the end of the series.) “And now we’re like, 20 years—no, 16 years later, whatever it is, and now we’re married with a kid. And I was like, ‘I don’t know about this one,’” Kunis concludes skeptically.
Still, being the on-screen spouse of her real-life spouse was “very cute,” she says, though shooting with him made her “more nervous doing that than anything else in my career.” The reason, she explains, is “because the set’s exactly the same, minus a couple paint jobs. I don’t know. It made me so uncomfortable. … It’s like, acting’s bullshit, right? Like, at the end of the day, it’s all about fucking bullshit. And so I would look at my husband while we were doing a scene or rehearsing, and I would be like, ‘Oh my God, that’s what you look like when you act.’” Kunis adds, “And then, you know, I don’t know, to be married, but be at the place where we met, and it looks the same was trippy. … We walked on set and I was like, ‘Oh, this is weird.’”
She has nothing but praise for the upcoming series, however, specifically noting that the young cast “are great and they’re so fun.” She does have one complaint: “My kid in it is too damn old. I would not birth such a child at my age!” That’s showbiz, baby—make way for the new generation!