The Will & Grace Reboot Will Pay Tribute to Debbie Reynolds

Olivia Bahou
Updated

[MUSIC] I share everything with my daughter. That's right. Especially the check Far more than I ever would want to. I know what my mother feels and wants. [MUSIC]

After 11 years off the air, Will & Grace will return to our TV screens on Sept. 28, but one beloved cast member will be missing: Debbie Reynolds. The actress, who played Grace’s mom Bobbi Adler, passed away in December 2016, but she will be honored in the upcoming reboot with a beautiful tribute.

The cast came together on Saturday at the Tribeca TV Festival, where they reminisced about working with the late star. “Debbie, may she rest in peace,” creator Max Mutchnick told the audience, according to Page Six. “I mean, she was such an angel.”

“She was so not an angel,” co-creator David Kohan joked.

“She was a broad,” Mutchnick corrected. “When we hired her, she showed up that morning … she walked into our office and she said, ‘Tell them I’m here to meet with the guys, I’m Burt Reynolds’s younger sister.’” (She wasn’t).

“So we sat down, Debbie Reynolds was in our office and … I said, ‘Hey … will you let us dye your hair red?’ She said, ‘Dye my hair red? I have two hairs on my body. One’s on my head, one’s on my p—y and they’re both gray.’ That’s who Debbie Reynolds was and she wore a beautiful red wig and I miss her.”

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Debbie went to be with Carrie. She always worried about her. Carrie left too soon and now they are together again. My heart is literally broken. For 8 years she was my mom. She was pure energy & light when she came on stage. She was loving, and bawdy, and playful- a consummate pro- old school and yet had the work ethic and investment in her craft of a new fiery up and comer. She was always running off to Vegas or somewhere else "on the road" to be a hoofer, to sing and dance and make people laugh. She performed 340 days out of the year. An inspiration on every level. A Legend of course, the epitome of clean cut American optimism, dancing with Gene Kelly as an equal, a warrior woman who never stopped working. A devoted mother and grandmother, and aunt and great aunt, and friend. I lost my mom a few years ago. She loved that Debbie was my TV mom. I hope they find each other and hug and kiss and my mom says, "I got you, Debbie. Carrie's waiting for you." RIP Bobbie Adler. ?

A post shared by Debra Messing (@therealdebramessing) on Dec 28, 2016 at 6:52pm PST

The reboot will also pay tribute to Sydney Pollack, who played Will’s dad. Will & Grace returns to NBC on Thursday, Sept. 28, at 9 p.m. ET.