What happened to Fred creator Lucas Cruikshank? The character of Fred Figglehorn is a hyperactive six-year-old boy with a squeaky, high pitched voice reminiscent of Alvin And The Chipmunks, who first appeared in a video created by Lucas Cruikshank and his cousins. The first Fred video appeared in 2006 when Cruikshank was just 13, and the character quickly became a viral hit. He eventually created his own channel, which became the first YouTube channel to receive over one million subscribers.
While many found the character of Fred to be a screeching irritant, the huge success of Lucas Cruikshank’s channel couldn’t be denied. While the content of the channel was popular with children, the backstory of Fred himself is surprisingly dark. He lives with a drug-addicted and alcoholic mother and his father – who he’s never met – is on death row. Fred: The Movie arrived in 2010, which featured an appearance by John Cena (Bumblebee) as Fred’s imaginary father. Fred’s character was toned down slightly for the movie, which still received terrible reviews. It was followed by two TV sequels, Fred 2: Night Of The Living Fred and Fred 3: Camp Fred, with Cena returning for cameos in both.
The character also appeared in Nickelodeon series Fred: The Show, which featured Titans co-star Ryan Potter as the title character’s best friend Bryan. The show only lasted for one season, and perhaps sensing the gag was wearing thin, Lucas Cruikshank retired from the role. The Fred channel continued to be one of the most subscribed on YouTube, so in 2014 an attempt was made to rebrand it. New videos featuring content aimed at kids was uploaded without the character of Fred himself actually appearing, but after this strange experiment failed the channel was abandoned in 2015.
The popularity of Fred has been overtaken by other YouTubers in recent years, though the old channel continues to pull in viewers. Lucas Cruikshank has reprised Fred for occasional skits since retiring, but there are no signs of the character making a big comeback. Instead, Lucas Cruikshank has launched his own YouTube channel Lucas, which currently has over 3 million subscribers.
While many found the character of Fred to be – understandably – very irritating, it was still an impressive feat on Lucas Cruikshank’s part to turn a silly comic character into a full-blown franchise. He got three movies and a TV series out of it, in addition to guest appearances on the Monster Vs Aliens show and iCarly, and realized when the time was right to gracefully bow out. While he’s not as visible anymore, he still has a successful solo channel and a large fanbase.