Will & Grace crew say goodbye for a second time ahead of series finale

In 2006, the cast and creators of Will & Grace bid farewell to their hit NBC sitcom with a lot of tears and emotional goodbyes. Now, they’re doing it again.

The team marked the end of filming on next year’s series finale, which marks the finish for this incarnation of the series.

After the show’s original from 1998-2006, Will & Grace returned to television in September 2017. It was renewed for three additional seasons with season 3 of this revival being its last. This week, as filming wrapped on the now-second series finale, actor Sean Hayes and series creator Max Mutchnick shared their responses online.

“And that’s a wrap from Stage 22 on the backlot of Universal Studios,” Hayes captioned a photo of his final bow with co-stars Debra Messing, Megan Mullally, and Eric McCormack. “What a glorious end to an amazing experience. Thanks to all of the fans. This was all for you.”

“Tonight I said good bye to Will Truman. For the second time,” McCormack tweeted in part. “And I’m more than a little broken.” He also shared a split photo of the cast, director James Burrows, and Mutchnik and fellow creator David Kohan on Wednesday night as they recreated a photo from two decades earlier. “Twenty years later. Hard to believe,” he said in the caption.

Mutchnik shared a behind-the-scenes image and video, showing the producers’ reaction to watching the last episode.

“Okay. It’s happening, the last show, the last taping of Will & Grace,” he says in the video. “The apartment is empty, we’re telling that story, they have moved on, and this series is officially over. Thank you, everybody.”

In a previous statement from Mutchnik and fellow executive producers Kohan and Burrows, they explained, “We think of the Will & Grace reboot episodes the way Karen Walker thinks of martinis – 51 is not enough, 53 is too many. That is why, after consulting with the cast, we all have decided this will be the final season. They say you can’t go home again, but we did. And now, three seasons and 52 episodes later, we’re even more proud of something we never thought we’d get a chance to do again. We have had a once-in-a-lifetime experience twice. And for that, we owe a double debt of gratitude to NBC, this show’s supportive and caring home since day one.”

Messing also offered a tease for the final season on Instagram, writing, “Something BIG is coming!” That message was tied to a GIF of her showing off a baby bump.

Season 3 premiered on NBC in October and the series finale will air in 2020.

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