‘Will & Grace’ returns next month
Reuters BEVERLY HILLS: Comedy Will & Grace, the television show credited with bringing gay men and women into mainstream pop culture long before gay marriage was legal in the United States, will return next month for not just one but two seasons, broadcaster NBC said.
The revival, in which Emmywinning stars Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally reprise their roles, will ignore the 2006 series finale, which jumped 20 years into the future.
And, although pop culture and Washington politics will play their parts, the cast and creators said the aim of the show would be to make people laugh.
The series about a gay attorney who shares a New York apartment with his straight female friend began in 1998 and was credited with fostering acceptance of gay people years before the United States Supreme Court made gay marriage a right nationwide in 2015.
“We set out to be funny — that’s still first and foremost,” McCormack told television writers at a presentation here.
“We’ll include political and cultural things. Of course, we will.”
Messing said she hoped the new series would “finish the alphabet” of gender identity to include issues around transgender, queer and pansexual culture.
The 2006 series finale leapt 20 years into a fantasy future in which Will and Grace have become estranged, but are brought together again through their children.
The new series, however, will pick up this year, with Will and Grace still living together, and with gay friend Jack (Sean Hayes) and the narcissistic Karen (Megan Mullally) living across the hallway in their New York apartment block.
Rich socialite Karen would boast of her friendship with President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, Mullally said.
“We have a Trump supporter inside this group. That made it creatively very interesting to revisit and really speak to the world through these voices,” said Max Mutchnick, who is returning to produce the comedy with co-creator David Kohan.
Kohan and Mutchnick said they decided to ignore the events of the series finale to get back to the essence of the four characters.
“What we missed was the dynamic between the four of them more than we missed the possibility of seeing what their lives were like as parents,” Kohan said.
Hayes said reuniting for the show was “like riding a bike”.
“It fits like a glove. It’s a gift of a lifetime that we get to do this again.” Reuters