Cheers to change
Will & Grace is returning with its 10th season. While the martinis will still flow, don’t expect the same old story, writes REBECCA BALLOCH
When sitcom Will &
Grace returned last year after a 12-year break, there was a sigh of delighted relief from fans.
The show seamlessly slotted back in, with the majority of the cast – including stars Debra Messing and Eric McCormack as the titular best buddies – back on the payroll and into the lounge rooms of devotees around the world. Safe to say, it was a bona fide hit.
Now the lovable bunch of flawed friends are set to serenade us once again with season 10 premiering this week on Stan. Featuring 18 episodes, the show will be fast-tracked from the US.
After the writers reassured fans with familiarity and an element of predictability last season, this time the comedy is set to plants the seeds of change.
“I think if there was a theme for last season it was, ‘The more things change, the more things stay the same’,” McCormack said in a recent interview. “But now that we’ve done that, we need to switch it up.”
Before fans get their knickers in a knot, don’t worry – the rapid-fire jokes, witty one-liners and pop-culture references are still hanging around. Everyone is still themselves but, after all these years, many of the characters are taking on a natural evolution.
Without giving too much away, here’s a little teaser: interior designer Grace decides to enter politics (who would have thought?); Jack (Sean Hayes) plans his upcoming nuptials; Karen (Megan Mullally) gets a divorce from her husband Stan (who has only ever been spoken of and never seen on screen); and lawyer and writer Will begins teaching.
Mullally was perhaps underplaying the situation when she commented that, “this season so far, for all four of us, there’s change in the air”. One constant of Will &
Grace over the years has been its dedication to clinching a stellar guest-star line-up.
From Britney Spears to Sharon Stone, Madonna, Macaulay Culkin, Barry Manilow, Ellen DeGeneres, Matt Damon and Sharon Osbourne, viewers have been a bit spoilt, to say the least.
This season, the standard is once again high – and also very intriguing.
Alec Baldwin ( 30 Rock) is set to woo Karen, while
Friends’ star David Schwimmer is tipped to lock lips with Grace. Meanwhile, chat show queen Chelsea Handler will sashay onto the much-loved set, along with Minnie Driver ( Good Will Hunting).
If you’re excited to hang out with Will and Grace, you’re not the only one – Schwimmer was stoked, too.
“Just playing at the level of this cast, who are the top of their game, it was kind of like this great, wonderful gift,” he said.
McCormack: “I think if there was a theme for last season it was, ‘The more things change, the more things stay the same’. But now that we’ve done that, we need to switch it up.”