The Nickelodeon sitcom iCarly (2007–2012) centers around Carly Shay, who creates her own web show with her best friends Sam and Freddie. The series stars Miranda Cosgrove as Carly, Jennette McCurdy as Sam, Nathan Kress as Freddie, Jerry Trainor as Spencer, and Noah Munck as Gibby. iCarly was created by Dan Schneider, who also served as executive producer. Two television films, iGo to Japan and iParty with Victorious, a crossover with Victorious, were released in 2008 and 2011 respectively. A joint spin-off with Victorious, titled Sam & Cat, starring McCurdy and Ariana Grande as Cat Valentine from Victorious, aired on Nickelodeon from 2013 to 2014.
In 2021, a revival of the series was released for Paramount+, with Cosgrove, Kress, and Trainor continuing their roles, and also starring Laci Mosley as Carly's best friend Harper and Jaidyn Triplett as Freddie's stepdaughter, Millicent. The series was developed by Ali Schouten without Schneider's involvement. Schouten also serves as executive producer alongside Cosgrove.
Main characters Overview Actor Character iCarly Sam & Cat Revival series 1 2 3 4 iParty 5 6 1 1 2 3 Miranda Cosgrove Carly Shay colspan="7" colspan="3" Jennette McCurdy Sam Puckett colspan="8" colspan="3" Nathan Kress Freddie Benson colspan="7" colspan="3" Jerry Trainor Spencer Shay colspan="7" colspan="3" Noah Munck Gibby colspan="3" colspan="4" colspan="3" Ariana Grande Cat Valentine colspan="4" colspan="2" colspan="3" Laci Mosley Harper colspan="8" colspan="3" Jaidyn Triplett Millicent colspan="8" colspan="3"
Carly Shay Carly Shay (Miranda Cosgrove) starts as a 13-year-old girl who lives with her older brother, Spencer Shay, in Seattle, Washington. They live in the Bushwell Plaza apartment building.
In "iPilot", Carly takes the blame for one of Sam's pranks and has to oversee people who want to be in the school's talent show as punishment. When Carly, Sam, and Freddie's suggestions are completely ignored, they decide to make a web show named iCarly upon Freddie's suggestion, with the 'i' standing for 'Internet' and Carly's name since she will be the host of the show.
In the 2021 revival, it is revealed that Carly hosted QVC whilst in Italy and hosted college radio while studying theater and media studies. By the events of the reboot, she is sharing an apartment in Seattle with her new friend Harper. After failed attempts to start an Internet channel with romantic interests, she decides to restart her iCarly webshow, with Freddie and Spencer assisting her. Carly's relationship with Freddie develops more throughout the second season, to the point where they start to fall in love with each other again, something established in the season 2 finale and stated by Freddie's then-girlfriend, Pearl.
Carly and Freddie finally get together in the third season and it's revealed that she wants to marry him in "iGo to Toledo". In the ninth episode, Freddie believes Carly is pregnant with his child until she tells him that isn't true, although it implies they will have a family in the future. In the last episode, Carly and Freddie nearly get married after Marissa and Lewbert decide to elope, although the wedding is interrupted by Carly's mother, who arrives off-screen, leaving it on a cliffhanger.
Sam Puckett Samantha "Sam" Puckett (Jennette McCurdy) is Carly's best friend and co-hosts the iCarly webshow with her. Sam has an identical twin sister named Melanie. Their mother is Pam Puckett (Jane LynchiCarly to Reveal SAM'S MOM!!! (DanWarp; Thursday July 1, 2010)).
In the series finale, "iGoodbye", Sam and Carly take a break from their web show while Carly moves to Italy. Sam becomes a lead character in the spin-off series Sam & Cat, in which she moves to Los Angeles and becomes friends with Cat Valentine (a character originally from Victorious) after rescuing her from a garbage truck.
In the 2021 revival, it is revealed that Sam had left Los Angeles and joined a biker gang that travels the country.
Freddie Benson Fredward "Freddie" Benson (Nathan Kress) is the technical producer for the web-show iCarly. He is shown to have a crush for Carly that she is aware of but doesn't reciprocate. Sam tends to bully and berate him, although a romantic relationship develops in later seasons.
In the 2021 revival, it is revealed that in the nine years since they were last together, Freddie had been involved in a failed tech start-up, had two failed marriages, and was forced to move back in with his mother along with his adopted stepdaughter Millicent. Freddie's relationship with Carly develops romantically again in season 2, to the point where they start to fall in love again, something established in the season 2 finale and established by Freddie's then-girlfriend, Pearl. Freddie becomes Carly's boyfriend in season 3 and she reveals she wants to marry him in "iGo to Toledo", when she says she hopes to one day be known as a Benson too. In the season 3 finale “iHave a Proposal”, on the day of Freddie’s mother, Marissa’s wedding to Lewbert, they decide to elope in Las Vegas, and Carly and Freddie decide to get married immediately, but before they do, Carly’s mother, off-screen, arrives, and the series ends on a cliffhanger.
Spencer Shay Spencer Shay (Jerry Trainor) is Carly's older brother and legal guardian. He was the only adult main character in the original series. When Carly's dad was called overseas, she went to live with Spencer, who turned their loft into both a workspace and gallery for his wacky sculptures. Spencer is off-beat but acts responsibly and seriously when necessary. Spencer has been shown as being extremely protective of Carly, especially in episodes such as "iQuit iCarly", "iLook Alike", and "iDate a Bad Boy".
In the 2021 revival, it is revealed that Spencer became a millionaire after one of his sculptures was accidentally set on fire and inadvertently seen by the art audience as a political statement. He has since remodeled his apartment, but kept the third floor intact, allowing Carly and Freddie to use it to restart their webshow. He also opened a restaurant on the former Groovy Smoothie location called Shay What. In the third season, it is revealed that he was a sperm donor and that he has 11 biological children.
Gibby
Orenthal Cornelius "Gibby" Gibson (Noah Munck) is a friend and classmate of Carly, Sam, and Freddie. Due to his odd personality and chubby appearance, he is an outcast at school, although he does have a few friends. He used to be known for taking off his shirt in almost all episodes he appeared in. After season 4, he has not taken his shirt off except for the episode "iRescue Carly", where he took it off in the dark. He stated in "iOpen a Restaurant" that he takes it off "less frequently now". He often appears on iCarly to assist Carly, Sam, and Freddie. Gibby started off as an occasional recurring character of the show, but was promoted to a main character by season 4.Exclusive: iCarly Promotes Noah Munck to Series Regular Gibby has a little brother named Guppy, played by Munck's younger brother. A running gag in many episodes usually has many characters yelling "Gibby!" to him, either when they are aggravated or annoyed by him. Since becoming a series regular, Gibby often announces his presence upon entering a room by saying his own name in a deepened voice: "Gibbeh!" It was revealed in the episode, "iStill Psycho", that his birth name is Orenthal Gibson.
Harper Harper BettencourtBettencourt – Carly refers to Harper with her last name "Bettencourt" in both episodes "iThrow a Flawless Dinner Party" and "iReturn to Webicon" of the revival series. (Laci Mosley) is Carly's new best friend and roommate. She is an aspiring fashion designer and works as a barista at Skybucks Coffee Bar after her family lost their fortune.
Following Mosley's casting in March 2021, Mosley has been the target of racist attacks from fans who saw her as a "replacement" for Jennette McCurdy's Sam Puckett. Writer Franchesca Ramsey tweeted in response, "[Mosley]'s character Harper isn't replacing Sam [McCurdy's character from the original].
Millicent Millicent Mitchell (Jaidyn Triplett) is Freddie's snarky and social media-obsessed adopted stepdaughter. Freddie shares custody of her with her mother, Gwen.
Recurring characters Marissa Benson Marissa Benson (Mary Scheer) is Freddie's neurotic and overbearing mother, first appearing in "iWanna Stay with Spencer". Marissa constantly worries about Freddie getting physically hurt (she couldn't care less about scarring him emotionally and/or mentally), or having relationships outside their immediate family (she winces at the mere mention of girls), and thinks nothing of treating her son like a Ming vase. She wanted Carly to love Freddie in "iWill Date Freddie", but later came to resent her for changing Freddie's "boy chemistry". Marissa shamelessly embarrasses Freddie in public, often by asking far-from-appropriate questions (like whether he's wearing clean underwear) and/or making him follow all of her strange rules.
In the revival, she bonds well with her adopted granddaughter Millicent. In season 3 Marissa becomes engaged to Lewbert.
Lewbert Lewbert Sline (Jeremy Rowley) is the rude doorman of Carly's apartment. He has a large, noticeable wart on his left cheek. In "iFind Lewbert's Lost Love", he reveals that the wart developed from stress caused by his abusive ex-girlfriend, Marta.
In the 2021 revival, it is revealed that a month after Carly left for Italy, Lewbert had abruptly left the apartment building, and spent nine years trying to build a plan to get back at the iCarly gang by going to law school and becoming a lawyer in order to sue them for $2.4 million. In season 3, it showed that he is engaged to Mrs. Benson.
T-Bo Terrence "T-Bo" Bo (BooG!e) is the manager at the Groovy Smoothie. He often hassles his customers to buy random foods on sticks, such as bagels, bell peppers, yams, doughnuts and pickles, alongside smoothies. These foods are always skewered on a stick. T-Bo says he has a degree in "Smoothieology". He is a close friend of Carly, Spencer, and the rest of the gang. T-Bo started living with Mrs. Benson after getting kicked out of the Groovy Smoothie.
Socko Socko is Spencer's longtime friend since high school, who is mentioned in several episodes but never seen in person. He is known for making all of Spencer's brightly colored, light-up socks and has many relatives who all have names directly relating to their occupations, including a car salesman named Otto, a serial burglar named Rob, and a necktie designer named Tyler. He often commissions Spencer to make sculptures for his business.
Nevel Papperman Nevel Amadeus Papperman (Reed Alexander) is a recurring villain in the iCarly series, running the popular review website Nevelocity.com and tending to have a "posh" personality which includes dressing formally all the time. First appearing in "iNevel", Nevel reveals to have a crush on Carly and initially offered to interview her in order to get close to her, but Carly resisted his romantic advances, eventually retaliating by angrily smearing tapenade on his face after he kissed her. He has since made it his goal to destroy the iCarly gang, although he claims to have a bigger goal of opening his own Haberdasher.
Chuck