Cole Sprouse was moved by viral Suite Life dinner reservation, would work with brother Dylan again

A table for two for Zack and Cody is ready at Chef Gigi’s.

Cole Sprouse says he and twin brother Dylan actually had an inkling that their 15-year dinner reservation on Suite Life on Deck would come up weeks before its actual date. “We had sort of seen it coming,” Sprouse, 31, tells EW during a recent interview for his upcoming horror-comedy Lisa Frankenstein. “At first Dylan and I wanted to do something for it, a little nod to it online, but it was the middle of the actors' strike.” 

On Nov. 16 of last year, fans of the Suite Life of Zack and Cody spinoff series flocked to social media to remind the Sprouse brothers that their reservations — made in a 2009 episode, titled “When in Rome" — was confirmed. “I can squeeze you in at 7:30...on Nov. 16, 2023,” the chef tells the brothers. “But that’s in 15 years!” Cole’s Cody says, while Dylan’s Zack quips, “What if I don’t feel like Italian that day?”

By the time the SAG-AFTRA strike concluded on Nov. 9, it allowed some leeway for the brothers to produce some of their own memes in response, but they needed to tend to other things on their plates (i.e., not Italian), so they shared more subtle (yet still amusing) responses on social media. Still, Sprouse, a former child star who also appeared in titles like Big Daddy and Grace Under Fire alongside his brother, looks back at his time on the children’s sitcom with reverence and thoughtfulness.

“A lot of children's programming fit in this golden space in people’s childhoods,” he says. “And it's beautiful to see that so many people were coming out with this [reservation] and still love [the show].” Sprouse heaps praise on the creatives behind kids entertainment, “who really do not get enough credit because they have a profound impact on people as they age,” he continues. “Those shows become the language, the jokes, the things that we repeat as we age. They're so important. I can quote every SpongeBob episode still to this day, and it's nice to know that we're included in that."

As for whether the Riverdale star would work with brother Dylan again, he mentions, “We get asked about the reboot thing a lot and I'm super against that. When a show [and existing] IP sits in that beautiful golden space, all you do is darken that space by opening it back up again.” But, yes, he and Dylan have had talks about working together again, Sprouse confirms. He says they are “more than open” to it "as long as it doesn’t lean into the cliché of twins,” which "can get a little cheesy."

Sprouse's Lisa Frankenstein costar Kathryn Newton offers the following response to his reboot comments: "You’re breaking my heart." She also gives a resounding “duh, of course” when asked if she was a Suite Life fan. “I have a picture with him and Dylan at Bob’s Big Boy when I was, like, 8 years old," she tells EW. The actress then pitches herself to play Sprouse's twin in a future project: "I think we kind of look alike sometimes.”

In Lisa Frankenstein, the two do not play twins but instead unlikely love interests. The horror-comedy, directed by Zelda Williams and written by Diablo Cody, stars Newton as a high school misfit named Lisa, who unwittingly resurrects Sprouse’s handsome Victorian corpse, named the Creature, and fashions him into her dream guy. The two then wreak murderous havoc against townsfolk and classmates in the 1980s-set film, punctuated by When in Rome needle drops and a classic makeover montage.

Sprouse calls the film a “love letter to monster movies.” And like Mary Shelley’s most infamous creature, his character has practically no lines of dialogue save for a few grunts here and there. “It was exciting to not have any dialogue,” Sprouse says. “My whole family has wanted me to shut up for a long time now, so it's been great to actually let them watch a movie where they don't have to hear my nasally voice.”

Newton, 26, concedes she initially had her reservations about acting alongside a nonverbal Sprouse. “I thought that was really scary,” she says. “I had to sit back and think, Can you do this? Can you bring something to the role or are you going to be really boring to watch? But of course, I had nothing to worry about with Cole, who helped me do this movie. A silent actor is fun to watch.”

Dialogue or not, the movie ticked off all the boxes for Sprouse, who got to work with his longtime pals Newton and Williams, as well as the iconic Cody. “Diablo had said in interviews, ‘Cole didn't take much convincing,’ and I really didn't,” he recalls, explaining how the role resurrected a childhood dream. "Playing a monster and going through practical effects is something I’ve always wanted to do since I was a little kid, so it felt like I was high-fiving my 10-year-old self. This is [a movie] I would've jumped out of the car and ran into the theater for as a kid.”

Lisa Frankenstein arrives in theaters this Friday. 

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