My So-Called Life: Where Would the Characters Be 30 Years Later?

Spoiler alert: Angela Chase lives in NJ

Even though My So-Called Life premiered 31 years ago, I still think about it all the time. The one season wonder is the only show that accurately depicts what it’s like to be a teenage girl. As someone who’s written on many young adult TV series, it’s amazing to me that the MSCL team was able to accomplish this. Every show I’ve been on has had execs obsessed with cliffhangers, quick plots, and OMG moments (literally, I wrote on Gossip Girl). My So-Called Life has scenes that are long and unhurried. So little happens yet so much happens! It’s all about feelings and relatability and subtext.

I recently rewatched some episodes and it’s crazy to admit this but… I now relate to Patty! I’m her age and I’m a mom (to two young kids but still). As an 11 year old, I saw her as the villain, Angela’s main antagonist. It was like “god, just let Angela live!” But now I see Patty for everything she actually is: a supportive and protective mom. Hate to say it but I too would have my hesitations about my daughter hanging out with a girl like Rayanne.

Something I love doing is imagining where my favorite characters from TV shows, movies, and books are today. Yes, it borders on fan fiction. However, it’s also a sign of a piece of work being so good that years later it still has a strong effect on you.

Here’s what I think the characters from My So-Called Life are up to today, in 2025.

Angela Chase is 46 years old and lives in Maplewood, NJ. I know, she never thought she’d be in New Jersey either. But that’s just what happens when you have kids and outgrow your small Carroll Gardens apartment. Naturally, Angela had many reservations about moving to the suburbs. Max, her husband, basically had to drag her. Angela had lived in New York for almost 20 years (she moved there right after college at Colgate). At one point, she’d made a vow that she would die in the city.

Yet now that she’s here, it’s not so bad. Angela likes having a yard, she likes grocery shopping with a car, she likes that most of her neighbors are fellow ex-Brooklynites who reluctantly moved to Jersey. Luckily, Angela only has to commute two days a week to her job at the ad agency Oglivy where she’s a Senior Copywriter. She’s worked there for a while now and can sort of do it in her sleep. Which Angela doesn’t mind because it allows her the freedom to take part in her kids’ activities as well as work on the novel she’s writing.

Angela’s son, Charlie, is seven and her daughter, Bea, is five. Most of the people back home have much older kids. Sharon’s son is like in college. But Angela got started late. Or rather, by New York and LA standards, right on time. Sometimes she looks at her life and is like “How?! What?!” It’s not that Angela didn’t want a husband and kids, she just wasn’t sure it was ever going to happen for her. Honestly, it wasn’t something she actively sought out. Angela was happy with her single life in New York. She had a good group of friends. She enjoyed traveling and going out to nice dinners and drinking at cool bars and just doing her own thing. Angela even liked casually dating noncommittal men. Guess that’s something she’s always been into.

But things changed one night after sleeping with Brian Krakow for like the 1000th time. Brian had been in New York on a work trip. The two usually saw each other when they were in the same city. And it was the same thing every time: they’d go out to dinner, get drunk, and then have sex. It was never great. After this particular experience, Angela vowed never to sleep with Brian again. Not only was it kind of mean of her to lead him on but she was 35 now. She’d been playing this game forever. It was time for a change. So she joined Hinge.

Angela’s first online date was with a totally fine, nonthreatening guy who just wasn’t her type. They both wished one another luck on their dating journeys after their vodka sodas at Fancy Nancy. But Angela’s second Hinge date was different. When Angela met Max, a software engineer originally from Toronto, they immediately hit it off. Max texted first thing the morning after their date. And it wasn’t a “fun night, we should do it again!” text but rather a link to an article about something they talked about. Angela immediately texted him back. Three day rule be damned! Right from the start, it was just easy with Max. They married two years later.

Like all parents, Angela thinks her kids are exceptional. Charlie is funny and kind and just an overall good hang. Bea is precocious and independent and tenacious. While her daughter’s only five, Angela has already dealt with some serious attitude. Who knew preschoolers knew how to roll their eyes? Angela is bracing herself for the future. But it all makes sense that this is what Angela Chase’s daughter would be like. Angela keeps thinking about her own poor mom and all that Patty had to deal with. Karma really is a bitch, huh?

Sometimes when Angela is procrastinating on her novel she finds herself Googling Jordan Catalano. There’s not much on the internet about him. Obviously, Jordan Catalano doesn’t have social media. But Angela did find an obituary for his dad in 2018. According to it, Jordan still lives in the Pittsburgh area. No partner was mentioned but the obituary did say Jordan had a daughter named Ruby (the irony of naming his daughter a shade of red was not lost on Angela).

The last time Angela saw Jordan in the flesh was in 2011. During a late night stalking session, she found Jordan’s band’s website (not Frozen Embryos, a new one). It was a badly designed site that was made on Geocities. Angela noticed the band was playing a gig at a bar the day after Christmas in Pittsburgh. Since she was home visiting her family she went. The bar was nearly empty. It was kind of sad. When the band took the stage, Angela was surprised by what she saw. Jordan didn’t look as hot as he used to nor did his voice sound as good. She immediately left in order to keep alive the almost mystical idea of Jordan Catalano.

Angela has told Max all about Jordan. He playfully teases her about it. It’s not often but when they do pass a boiler room, Max will joke, “Wanna make out in there? For old time’s sake?” Angela giggles to herself imagining Max and Jordan meeting one another. Not like they ever would but just the thought of it is hilarious to her. Two total opposites. Though both came into her life at the exact right time.

Angela still talks to Sharon Cherski. Or more accurately, follows her life as a wife and mother on Facebook. And yes, Sharon is still on Facebook posting at least once a week. Angela cringes at the things Sharon posts. How can two people with parents who are best friends and who grew up in the same town be so different? Max comments that Angela and Sharon’s lives aren’t that different. They’re both moms who live in the suburbs. Angela rolls her eyes at that and defensively counters that she and Sharon are nothing alike! A self-proclaimed boy mom, Sharon’s older son is a freshman at Penn State and her younger son is a junior in high school. Sharon married some guy she met while at Penn State. He’s not Kyle, but he might as well be.

Patty, Angela’s mom, finally retired from Wood and Jones Printing. It took her family a lot of pleading to get her to stop working so she could enjoy retirement and take it easy. But Patty wasn’t going out without a fight. She and Angela really are very stubborn.

Danielle and Chris took over the business which is doing really well (thanks to all the word Patty put into it). They have two kids the same ages as Angela and Max’s. The cousins FaceTime a lot. Danielle lives five minutes from Patty and Graham.

No one was born to be a grandfather more than Graham Chase. Poppy dotes on his four grandkids. He’s even Danielle’s kids’ sole childcare on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Graham’s also on a first name basis with some of the American Airlines Pittsburgh to Newark flight attendants because he comes to New Jersey so often to visit Angela and her family. Everyone loves Poppy’s jokes and pasta sauce.

Over the years, Graham and Patty have hit some rough patches. They had a brief separation in 1998. And another, longer one in 2005. But they keep coming back to one another. Grandkids have been good for both of them. It’s allowed Graham to find his true calling (before he’d taught more cooking classes, opened two restaurants, and contemplated going back to school. To do what? He didn’t know so he didn’t do it).

For Patty, it’s been nice to let her hair down (figuratively, you know she still has that short cut). Raising kids was hard and a lot of the time had to be a person she didn’t love: the disciplinarian, the scold. But with grandkids, Patty can have fun. She always gets to be the good cop. It’s been a joy watching her daughters become moms. It’s also been a nice dose of payback. That Bea is going to be trouble for Angela. Patty can’t help but relish in it.

Rickie Vasquez has been a constant in Angela’s life since the 10^th grade. They even lived together in Williamsburg right after college graduation. Rickie followed his mentor Mr. Katimski’s footsteps and became a high school English teacher in the Bronx. He’s amazing at his job and is currently the academic advisor for the drama club. 12 years ago, Rickie married his longtime partner, Anthony, in a small ceremony in upstate New York. Angela gave a speech. She talked about how much she’s learned from Rickie over the course of their years-long friendship.

Currently, Rickie and Anthony live in Washington Heights with their two kids, Carmen and Oscar. They adopted the siblings when they were three and one. They’re now nine and seven. Angela and Rickie don’t get to see each other as much as they used to but whenever they get their families together, it’s always the most fun. Oscar and Charlie are BFFs and Bea is obsessed with cool, older girl Carmen. Angela and Rickie can’t believe how far they’ve come from their uncomfortable high school years. Who would’ve ever thought?

Brian Krakow is a cardiologist at Cedars in LA. He went to Northwestern for undergrad and Johns Hopkins for med school. If Angela had wanted, Brian would have gone somewhere close to her. But she told him not to do that. Brian needed to go to where he wanted to go and should not make any decisions just for her.

When Angela told Brian that they couldn’t hook up anymore, he was devastated. A part of him always held out hope that they’d eventually get together for good. But Angela ending things was kind of like a bandaid being ripped off. Brian was a successful and rich doctor who still had a full head of curls. He didn’t need to be pining over his old neighbor from Pittsburgh. So Brian joined Raya. He slept around, lived it up, became a “player” (or as much of a player as Brian Krakow ever could be a player). When Brian turned 40, he married Maya, a 28 year old stylist to the stars.

A pregnant Angela brought Rickie with her to the big, fancy, Ojai wedding. It was kind of a peace offering. Angela was genuinely happy for Brian. Maya was hotter than her, younger than her, had 1000s of more Instagram followers than her. Brian had won. The wedding was beyond insane and over the top. So not Brian Krakow. Embarrassingly, Angela recognized so many young actresses at the wedding. The maid of honor was even the star of a Freeform show Angela happened to watch. Meanwhile, Brian secretly hoped that when his Congressman friend who was presiding over the wedding asked if anyone objected to the union that Angela would shoot up from her seat. Then they’d run off together, Graduate-style. Of course, that didn’t happen.

Brian and Maya now have two kids with another on the way. Angela follows Maya’s Instagram. It’s mostly mom and clothes content. Angela’s certain Maya makes a lot of money from her account. Not that the Krakows need the money since Brian’s raking it in. Sometimes Angela feels a tinge of jealousy of Maya who gets to have this privileged, stress-free life. But then there’s also a huge sense of sadness for her. Maya has to be married to Brian Krakow.

Rayanne Graff went MIA after high school. Rickie’s Facebook friends with her, but Angela won’t request her and Rayanne’s never added her either. However, it doesn’t really matter because she never updates anyway. From what Angela and Rickie can gather from her vague profile, Rayanne’s moved around a lot. She’s had stints in New Orleans, Atlanta, Portland, Nashville, and Philadelphia. Now she’s living on a houseboat in South Florida.

What Angela and Rickie don’t know is that Rayanne’s been clean for six years, her longest stretch ever, and sings every Tuesday night at a local bar. In the past, she’s had a slew of jobs. But two years ago, Rayanne got her associate’s degree. Recently, she’s been taking drug and alcohol counseling classes. It’s going to take awhile but it’ll definitely be worth it. Getting to help people who were once in her shoes.

Rayanne thinks about her old friends a lot. She did see those pictures from Rickie’s wedding on Facebook. She was sad she wasn’t there. Many times she’s considered sending Angela a message but has never gone through with it. Maybe one day she will.

As for Tino, no one’s heard from him in years.