How Cherie Johnson Learned Her Punky Brewster Character Would Be Queer On Reboot

Punky Brewster isn’t the only important woman in Cherie Johnson’s life when the show returns for its Peacock revival later this month.

Picking up 33 years after the original series’ run, the new show will find a full-grown Brewster raising foster kids of her own while dealing with a recent separation from her husband. Her BFF, on the other hand, is a proud queer woman, sitting pretty with a girlfriend of her own, played by Jasika Nicole.

“My first reaction was, ‘You guys better get me a hottie’ … and they did,” exclaimed Johnson — yes, the actress and the character share the same name — when TooFab caught up with her ahead of the revival’s premiere. “At first they were all kind of speechless. I don’t know what they thought my reaction was going to be.”

“[Soleil Moon Frye] wanted to call and tell me what they wanted to pitch me, but they didn’t want her to have to make that phone call because they didn’t know how my reaction was going to be, but I was thrilled,” she continued.

“And I think I was more excited than they expected because for me representation definitely matters.”

Johnson is thrilled the character resonated with so many people on the original series and she’s excited to continue Cherie’s journey on the 10-episode revival.

“I really feel like I grew up with you guys. I really feel like you guys are my friends, some of you I just haven’t met yet,” she told the fandom. “To be able to continue, to go on my life journey with you guys, especially coming to an age where like, I’m a woman in my 40s. There’s something that happens when we’re in our 40s. We learn to say no. We learn to be unapologetically be ourselves and we learn to live in our truth, and that’s what Punky and Cherie are doing. I think that’s such a beautiful thing to be able to do it with you guys still involved.”

See Cherie live her truth when “Punky Brewster” debuts February 25 on Peacock.