Growing up with the gang from Point Place felt like having a second set of friends who just happened to live in a basement. We watched them deal with bad haircuts, "the circle," and the constant threat of a foot in their asses. But then the show ended in 2006, and the real world got complicated.
Seeing where the That 70s Show stars ended up is a wild ride of massive Hollywood success, quiet pivots to domestic life, and one very dark legal downfall. It isn't just about nostalgia anymore. It’s about how six kids in a Vista Cruiser became some of the most influential (and sometimes notorious) people in the industry.
The A-List Power Couple Nobody Saw Coming
If you told someone in 1998 that Jackie Burkhart and Michael Kelso would be married with kids in 2026, they would’ve laughed you out of the Hub. Mila Kunis was famously only 14 when she auditioned. Ashton Kutcher was just a model with a goofy grin.
Honestly, they’ve stayed more relevant than almost any other sitcom duo in history. Mila has basically become a mainstay in Hollywood. Between voicing Meg on Family Guy for over 25 years and starring in huge films like Black Swan and the more recent Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, she’s never really stopped working.
Ashton, on the other hand, went the tech mogul route. He’s arguably richer from venture capital than from acting, though he still dips his toes in the water. Just this month, he’s been promoting The Beauty on Hulu, playing a tech billionaire. It’s a role that feels uncomfortably close to his real-life persona. They even made a rare, "awkward" appearance at the 2026 Golden Globes recently, proving that even after ten years of marriage, the public is still obsessed with them.
💡 You might also like: Finding the Perfect Donny Osmond Birthday Card: What Fans Often Get Wrong
Topher Grace and the Art of the Pivot
Topher Grace is an interesting case. He was the "star" but left the show early to chase movie stardom. People often forget he was Venom in Spider-Man 3, which... was a choice.
But Topher didn't just fade away. He found a weirdly cool niche. He’s known in nerd circles for editing the Star Wars prequels into one single, high-quality movie just for fun. Career-wise, he’s been holding it down on ABC’s Home Economics and popped back into the Forman basement for the That '90s Show pilot. He’s playing Eric as a "Star Wars studies" professor now. It’s a bit on the nose, but it works.
The Heavy Reality of Danny Masterson
You can't talk about the legacy of the show without addressing the elephant in the room. Or rather, the person missing from every reunion.
Danny Masterson, who played the cynical, conspiracy-loving Hyde, is currently serving 30 years to life in prison. He was convicted in 2023 on two counts of rape. It was a massive, dark cloud over the entire cast, especially when letters of support from Ashton and Mila surfaced, causing a huge PR backlash.
📖 Related: Martha Stewart Young Modeling: What Most People Get Wrong
As of 2026, Masterson remains incarcerated at the California Men's Colony. He’s the only original cast member who was completely scrubbed from the Netflix sequel and the 25th-anniversary celebrations. It’s a grim end for a character that so many fans originally identified with.
Wilmer Valderrama is Everywhere
Seriously, how does Wilmer Valderrama have this much energy?
Fez was always the "outsider" of the group, but Wilmer has become the ultimate Hollywood insider. He’s been a staple on NCIS as Nick Torres for nearly a decade now. He’s voicing characters in Disney's Zootopia 2 and has been trying to get a Zorro reboot off the ground for years.
He’s also the one who seems most sentimental about the old days. He’s appeared on podcasts with Topher recently, talking about how they’re still best friends. Out of all of them, he’s the one who seems to have balanced the "sitcom kid" legacy with a "serious actor" career the most seamlessly.
👉 See also: Ethan Slater and Frankie Grande: What Really Happened Behind the Scenes
The Parents: Still the Heart of the Show
Let’s be real: Kurtwood Smith and Debra Jo Rupp are the reasons That '90s Show even exists.
Red and Kitty Forman are the anchors. In 2026, they are still playing those roles on Netflix, proving that some things never change. Kurtwood Smith is 82 now, but he’s still got the best comedic timing in the business. Seeing them back in that kitchen, even with a new generation of kids, feels like a warm blanket.
Why We’re Still Talking About Them
The staying power of these actors is rare. Most sitcom casts disappear into "Where Are They Now?" listicles after five years.
- The Chemistry was Real: You can't fake the vibe they had.
- The Transition: They managed to jump from network TV to streaming without losing their audience.
- The Drama: Whether we like it or not, the real-life scandals and marriages kept them in the headlines.
If you’re looking to dive back into that world, your best bet is catching the latest parts of That '90s Show on Netflix. It’s not exactly the same—nothing ever is—but seeing Don Stark (Bob Pinciotti) show up with his ridiculous hair is usually enough to make it worth the watch.
Check out the newer episodes if you want to see how they handled Eric's absence or to catch the endless stream of cameos like Seth Green and Tommy Chong. The basement is still there, even if the world outside it has changed completely.