The world of Terabithia was brought to life on February 16, 2007, when the film Bridge to Terabithia — based on the book of the same name by Katherine Paterson — first hit theaters. Since then, the fantasy flick has become a widely known classic across generations.
Starring Josh Hutcherson, Bailee Madison, AnnaSophia Robb, Zooey Deschanel and Robert Patrick, the movie followed the unlikely friendship of Jess Aarons and Leslie Burke. Jess, who came from a financially struggling family, started visiting the magical world called Terabithia after befriending the wealthy Leslie. When Jess returns home from a field trip with his music teacher, he finds out Leslie died after an accident in the river by their homes. Distraught, he rushes to Terabithia to find Leslie. When Jess realizes she’s not there, he’s forced to accept her death.
Celebrating the movie’s 10-year anniversary in 2017, Bailee told MTV that although the cast doesn’t see each other often, on the rare occasion that they do, it’s like no time has passed. “You carry the same excitement and happiness you had when you were filming [with] them,” the actress gushed at the time.
The Wizards of Waverly Place alum went on to say that she has some of the fondest memories about filming with Josh.
“He was so sweet, he just hugged me,” she recalled during the same MTV interview. “He took such good care of me. I love him with all my heart.”
Josh, for his part, looked back on his role as Jess Aarons during an interview with Entertainment Weekly in May 2020.
“I have a lot of people, even to this day, tell me they cried so hard at that movie,” the actor shared at the time “I didn’t go to school, I didn’t have like a normal childhood. But what I gained from being on film sets was invaluable and extremely rare. I was very lucky to have to have all those experiences.”
But what have the stars been up to since the movie premiered? Scroll through our gallery to see what the Bridge to Terabithia cast is up to now!
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