Paramount+’s reboot of the hit NBC sitcom “Frasier” is set to begin rehearsals in February. But the show will be missing one fan-favorite member of the original cast: David Hyde Pierce, who played Frasier’s younger brother Niles Crane.
“For a while we were going to try to bring back the whole cast, the whole legacy cast,” told star Kelsey Grammer. People, However, the actor told the outlet that the creative team behind the revival decided to change course after learning that Hyde Pierce would not be participating.
“David basically decided he wasn’t really interested in repeating Niles’ performance,” Grammer said. “In a very funny way, it took us to a new place, which is what we originally wanted to do anyway, which was the Frasier third act. It’s a whole new life for that.
The “Cheers” spinoff, which ran on NBC for 11 seasons between 1993 and 2004, received 108 Primetime Emmy Award nominations for a total of 37 wins, including five Outstanding Comedy Series wins, four Outstanding Lead Actor wins for Grammer, and four Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Supporting Role. Prizes included. The actor wins for Hyde Pierce.
In addition to Grammer and Hyde Pierce, the show starred Jane Leeves as Daphne Moon, Peri Gilpin as Rose Doyle, and the late John Mahoney as Martin Crane.
Vulture asked Hyde Pierce to come in an interview in june about the possibility of her appearing in the Frasier revival, to which she replied: “Nobody approached me about it, so it wasn’t something I turned down. But it also wasn’t something I wanted to do.” Was wanting, so I wasn’t even the engine behind it.
When Frasier ended, Hyde Pierce turned his attention to a successful career in the theatre, starring in “Spamalot”, “Curtains”, “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” and “Hello, Dolly”. He most recently starred in the HBO Max series “Julia” as Paul Childs, the husband of TV personality and cooking teacher Julia Childs.
“Over the years, whenever the show is talked about – I don’t feel like there’s anything else I can think of that I need to say about the character,” he explained. “But I’m not a writer. And I think if they came up with a way to tell stories that I found interesting, I might think, “Oh, I might go back and do that”., But in terms of my own drive and interest, no. I love those characters, but I don’t miss them.
But he emphasized that his experience working on Frasier is “deeply important” to him and that he would “never disrespect him in a way like, just offhandedly saying, “Oh, no, thank you.” I’m not going to do that again.
“It’s very valuable to me. But by the same token, because it’s very valuable to me, I won’t even do it. Just do it. And I believe it can be done without me – to say new Finding stories, just like Frasier did after Cheers,” he added. “They didn’t bring the Cheers gang together to make a new show. They came on from time to time and that was a blast, but there was something else that needed to be said, and it needed to be said in a different way.” Maybe they get it and I’ll be in it, or maybe they get it and they don’t need me to be in it.
The revival will leave the psychiatrist living entirely on his own in a new city.
“He’s our brave little soldier who continues on in life, looking for new challenges and new love and new people and a new town and stuff,” says Grammer. “I’m really excited about it, and we will definitely always respect the past. We have to respect the fact that John Mahoney died and Martin is no longer with us. We will definitely deal with it.” “
He also says that the reboot will address the absence of Niles, Daphne, and Rose.
“We would certainly account for the fact that there was a brother and so,” Grammer said. “But the new world for Frasier is one of new friendships — and some new twists and turns that he didn’t know were still out there.”
The “Frasier” revival will be produced by CBS Studios in association with Grammer’s Gramnet NH Productions. The show will be executive produced by Tom Russo, Jordan McMahon and writers Chris Harris and Joe Cristley.
