Debra Messing Explains Why We Need a Will & Grace Revival Right Now
By Laura Bradley. Photos: Getty Images.
Most Must-See TV fans probably don’t need an explanation for NBC’s upcoming 10-episode Will & Grace revival—in these trying times, they’re just happy to have it at all. Case in point? The 10-minute reunion skit that started it all last fall, which went massively viral (over 7 million views on YouTube and counting) and ultimately spurred the official endeavor. But for those skeptics who need further explanation, star Debra Messing, who played the show’s eponymous redhead, provided one on Monday.
“NBC didn't even know we were doing it," Messing told E! News, referring to that election-themed YouTube video. “But then the phone call came, and the four of us got together and had dinner and looked around the table and we were like, ‘What do you think?’ And we all unanimously felt we needed to laugh ,and we wanted more than anything to make other people laugh right now with the state of our country, the state of our world, the chaos, the fear and the confusion. We thought, ‘You know what? We have so much to say in the only way we can say it’—which is always putting the funny first, but also always commenting on what is happening in politics and pop culture and social norms.”
Still, there are some hurdles this revival will need to overcome: mainly, finding a way to reconcile the new show with its existing finale, in which Will and Grace and the gang are shown to have grown apart over the years. Additionally, it must grapple with the real-life death of Debbie Reynolds, who played Grace’s mother on the show—and though she was not a frequently recurring character, die-hards will surely feel the loss. But Messing put those concerns at ease, as well, saying that the revival will “absolutely” honor the late icon. Oh, and with regard to that pesky finale storyline: “I've been assured by our brilliant show creators that they have very quickly and magically created a universe in which we're all back together.”
More: The 20 Most Satisfying TV Kisses of All Time
In the end, the new Will and Grace doesn’t aspire to be more than another fun romp around the city with some of TV’s most beloved Manhattanites. As Megan Mullally, who played Karen, put it to Paste magazine, the primary goal of the revival will be “to make 10 really funny episodes.”
“I think that was a secret of the show’s success originally,” Mullally added. “I mean, the show was very topical, but primarily it was just funny, especially in the dynamic between the various characters, and I think that’s what they’re going for this time.”
Honestly, that’s fine with us—we’d even be happy with “Just Jack.”
This story originally appeared on Vanity Fair.
More from Vanity Fair:
Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, and More Stars Who’ve Performed Pregnant
The Celebrity Conspiracy Theories That Just Won’t Quit
The Evolution of Off-Duty Model Style
