Will & Grace' almost had a fifth cast member: Cress Williams.Photo:Chris Haston/NBCU Photo Bank; Mike Coppola/Getty
Chris Haston/NBCU Photo Bank; Mike Coppola/Getty
Will & Gracebecamea world-renowned show with its cast of four:Eric McCormack,Debra Messing,Sean HayesandMegan Mullally. But did you know that the beloved sitcomalmosthad a fifth main character?
In the premiere episode of theirJust Jack & Willpodcast, McCormack, 60, and Hayes, 53, revealed that when the NBC pilot was filmed in 1998, they had another costar:Cress Williams. TheBlack Lightningalum was cast as Will Truman’s (McCormack) law partner and friend.
“There were five characters as regulars,” McCormack said. “And the fifth was my partner at my small law firm.”
Cress Williams attends the ‘Black Lightning’ Press Line during Comic-Con International 2018.Joe Scarnici/Getty
Joe Scarnici/Getty
McCormack added that the character was “probably written as Jewish” initially, but they ended up hiring Williams for the role. However, two days into filming,FriendsdirectorJames Burrows— who also directed episodes ofWill & Grace— decided that five was too many.
“Jimmy just went to the boys [creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan] and said, ‘It’s just too many. It’s one finger too many. These four are the show,’” recalled McCormack, who also admitted to feeling “terrible” for Williams despite the character not being the right fit for the story.
“It was nothing he did or didn’t do,” McCormack added. “It just didn’t fit what the show is supposed to be.”
McCormack previously shared withThe A.V. Clubthat he had a similar experience to Williams, having been cut fromJenny McCarthy’s sitcomJennyafter shooting the pilot. The moment in question occurred a year before he landedWill & Grace.
“We shot the pilot, and I was in Toronto doing a movie, and I got a call saying they cut the character, that I was off the show,” McCormack said in 2016. “While I knew it was not going to be God’s gift to television, it was going to be a good year, and I was expecting to make that money, and I was getting married in the summer, and so it was a big deal. And it was the following pilot season that I gotWill & Graceand shot that.”
Will & Graceran for eight seasons on NBC from 1998 to 2006. It later returned for a revival in 2017 that lasted for three seasons. The original series won 18 Emmy Awards and is widely regarded as one of the best and most influential sitcoms of all time.
Now, McCormack and Hayes are co-hosting a podcast where they rewatch the series in its entirety.
“We started to talk about what would we do if we did a podcast,” McCormack recently told PEOPLE at The Impact of Will & Grace: 25 Years Later event at The Paley Center for Media in New York City. “And I said, ‘We could rewatch the show?’”
According to McCormack, Hayes said, “‘Yeah, I’d have to watch it [for] the first time. ‘Cause I’ve never really watched it.'” And to that, McCormack responded “‘That’s the show.'”
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Will & Gracecan be streamed in its entirety on Hulu and Prime Video.
source: people.com
