generic Frasier Revival: Kelsey Grammer Reveals Why David Hyde Pierce Said No to Returning as Niles
When Frasier returns as a Paramount+ revival, it will do so without the titular radio host’s little brother. In a new interview, series star Kelsey Grammer is shedding some light on David Hyde Pierce‘s decision not to revisit his character from the long-running Cheers spinoff.
“David basically decided he wasn’t really interested in repeating the performance of Niles,” Grammer tells People.
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in June, Pierce hinted to Vulture that he might not be down for the series’ continuation.
“That whole time of my life [doing Frasier] is deeply important to me. And I would never disrespect that in such a way as to say just offhandedly, ‘Oh, no, thanks. I’m not going to do that again.’ It’s too valuable to me,” he said at the time. “But by the same token, because it’s so valuable to me, I also wouldn’t do it just to do it. And I believe it can be done without me, too — finding new stories to tell, in the same way that Frasier did after Cheers.”
Grammer elaborates that Pierce’s decision not to revisit his lovably finicky alter ego wound up having an upside. “In a very funny way, it just took us to a new place, which was what we originally wanted to do, anyway, which was a Frasier third act,” Grammer says in the interview. “It’s an entirely new life for him.”
The revival, which Paramount+ ordered in October, will find Frasier starting over in a new city among a new cast of characters. Grammer adds that the show will explain the absence of Niles, as well as that of original series mainstays Daphne and Roz. (John Mahoney, who played Frasier’s dad Martin Crane, passed away in 2018; Grammer has said the show will deal with that in its first episode.)
Frasier ran for 11 seasons and won five Best Comedy Series Emmys. In addition to starring in the revival, Grammer will serve as an executive producer alongside Chris Harris (How I Met Your Mother) and Joe Cristalli (Life In Pieces) writing the scripts. The series order reportedly is for 10 episodes.
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