Cole Sprouse on The Suite Life’s Enduring Impact: 'Those Parts of Our Childhoods Are Special' (Exclusive)

Cole Sprouse doesn’t take for granted how “special” The Suite Life of Zack & Cody is for many fans. 

“Kudos to the people that write and act and direct and who are creatives on children's programming,” he tells PEOPLE. The cast and crew of the hit Disney Channel sitcom, who Sprouse remains close with, “never anticipated that it would've been such an important part of so many people's childhoods.”

As the Riverdale star, 31, points out, “That's what children's programming really does. And in a lot of ways, it's responsible for shaping entire generations.”

Sprouse and his twin brother, Dylan, starred as hotel dwellers Cody and Zack Martin, respectively, on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody from 2005 to 2008 alongside Ashley Tisdale, Brenda Song, Phill Lewis and Kim Rhodes. The leading duo then reprised their roles from 2008 to 2011 in spinoff The Suite Life on Deck and The Suite Life Movie. 

“It's really beautiful to see that people still have such a wonderful and nostalgic space still carved out for children's programming and our show,” says Sprouse, who adds that viewers of all ages continue to show their love on social media and in-person.

Nowhere was this more evident than in November, when the Sprouse twins were besieged by messages about an Italian dinner reservation date their Suite Life characters had been given in an episode titled “When In Rome…” The popular Italian restaurant indicated the next available spot was on Nov. 16. 2023, to which Zack exclaimed, "What if I don't feel like [having] Italian that day?"

Sprouse tells PEOPLE he and his brother contemplated doing something celebratory to honor the special date’s arrival but were hampered by the SAG-AFTRA actors’ strike in the months beforehand — and, more importantly, their father Matthew’s birthday. 

“We had this moment where Dylan and I were like, ‘We're not really going to miss our father's 60th birthday to indulge in an internet meme, are we?’” he says. “It seemed like one of those forks in the road.”

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What he takes away from that fan response, however, is that programming like The Suite Life “is arguably more important than most of entertainment in shaping young senses of comedy … Youth culture is a big byproduct of the shows that we all watch and we all discuss. I can still quote 90 percent of SpongeBob episodes!”

He adds, “Those parts of our childhoods are really special and golden. And it’s nice to see that we still have that space with people.”

Following 2019’s Five Feet Apart with Haley Lu Richardson, 2022’s Moonshot with Lana Condor and seven seasons as Jughead Jones on Riverdale, Sprouse now stars opposite Kathryn Newton in director Zelda Williams and screenwriter Diablo Cody’s Lisa Frankenstein (in theaters now).

He’ll next appear in the page-to-screen adaptation of Mason Deaver’s I Wish You All the Best.