A Secret Fifth Lead of 'Will & Grace' Was Fired Days into Shooting, Leaving Eric McCormack Feeling 'Terrible'

Actor Cress Williams was cast in the hit sitcom's pilot as a friend and colleague of Eric McCormack's Will Truman — but his character didn't make the final cut

Will & Grace became a world-renowned show with its cast of four: Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally. But did you know that the beloved sitcom almost had a fifth main character?

In the premiere episode of their Just Jack & Will podcast, McCormack, 60, and Hayes, 53, revealed that when the NBC pilot was filmed in 1998, they had another costar: Cress Williams. The Black Lightning alum 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.”

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, Friends director James Burrows — who also directed episodes of Will & 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.”

Related: The Stars of 'Will & Grace' Were Gifted Porsches After Season 1 — But Who Immediately Sold Theirs?

McCormack previously shared with The A.V. Club that he had a similar experience to Williams, having been cut from Jenny McCarthy’s sitcom Jenny after shooting the pilot. The moment in question occurred a year before he landed Will & 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 got Will & Grace and shot that."

Although Williams may not have stayed with Will & Grace, he still had a successful career in TV, appearing on hit shows like Prison Break and Hart of Dixie.

Related: Debra Messing Recalls the ‘Painful’ Scene That Left the 'Will & Grace' Audience 'Dead Silent' (Exclusive)

Will & Grace ran 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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