Leo's Back! Find Out How Harry Connick Jr. Reprises His Will & Grace Role
The Will & Grace revival is welcoming back one very special guest star.
PEOPLE has an exclusive sneak peek at this week’s episode, in which Harry Connick Jr. is reprising his role as Grace’s ex-husband Leo.
In the scene, Grace (Debra Messing) wakes up in a hospital bed — only to be shocked to learn that Leo, who is still listed as her emergency contact, happens to be standing right in front of her.
“How heavy was that sedation?” she asks the nurse. “Because I feel like my ex-husband is standing right there.”
“I think I’m still listed as your emergency contact,” he replies.
“How could that be?” she demands. “I told Karen to — oh, that’s how.”
The original NBC sitcom, which ran for eight seasons from 1998-2006, concluded with a remarried Grace and Leo raising a daughter, Laila, while Will (Eric McCormack) shared son Ben with spouse Vincent (Bobby Cannavale).
However, the reboot chose to ignore the series finale, picking back up with Will and Grace single, childless and still living in their famous New York City apartment.
“We spent most of our time trying to figure out what would be the way to make the show the best version of itself coming back after 11 years,” executive producer/creator Max Mutchnick told Entertainment Weekly in August. “That finale really caused us a lot of grief. You write a finale because a show is over. You never think that it’s coming back again.”
“When the decision was made to bring the series back, we were like, well, we left them with kids, right?” added executive producer/creator David Kohan. “And if they have children, then it has to be about them being parents, ‘cause presumably it would be a priority in their lives. And if it wasn’t a priority in their lives, then they’re still parents, they’re just bad parents, right? We frankly did not want to see them being either good parents or bad parents. We wanted them to be Will and Grace.”
Will & Grace airs Thursdays (9 p.m. ET) on NBC.
