Will and Grace will return to the small screen in the fall to give fans a look at what has happened to the core group of characters in the years since the series finale aired back in 2006. As the series ended on a flashforward that revealed Will and Grace separated and married with kids, it was hard to imagine where a revival could actually pick up. As it turns out, the revival is simply going to ignore the events of the finale. Executive producer David Kohan explained why exactly the decision was made, saying this:
When the decision was made to bring the series back, we were like, well, we left them with kids, right? And if they have children, then it has to be about them being parents, 'cause presumably it would be a priority in their lives. And if it wasn't a priority in their lives, then they're still parents, they're just bad parents, right? We frankly did not want to see them being either good parents or bad parents. We wanted them to be Will and Grace.
The 2006 season finale saw a time jump of 20 years. Will and Grace hadn't spoken for 18 years due to a falling out, and they only meet again when their respective kids are moving into their college dorms at the same time. Will's son and Grace's daughter go on to get married, and Will and Grace rekindle their friendship, so there's some happiness to the ending despite the falling out between the two best friends. Still, the finale didn't leave a whole lot of room for a revival to pick up. So, as David Kohan revealed in a chat with EW, the folks behind the scenes decided to go ahead and pretend the finale didn't happen. No need to worry about Will and Grace as parents if they don't have kids!
The Will and Grace revival will pick up with Will and Grace still living in their iconic New York apartment, both single and both childless. Jack will be back living across the hall from them, and Karen will continue living in her mansion and drinking her way through life, presumably with as much snarky commentary as in the original run of the series. Will and Grace will have stayed in their respective careers as corporate lawyer and interior designer, whereas Jack will have become an acting teacher whose signature technique is known as "Jackting."
That said, the revival might not be ignoring everything from the series finale, which saw Grace's big reunion with ex-husband Leo, played by Harry Connick Jr. Leo will evidently appear in the revival, although it's not currently known how much of a presence he'll have in the new batch of episodes.
The new season was originally slated to run for ten episodes, but the order was bumped up to 12 episodes. Fortunately, we don't have too much longer to wait before the show is back. The premiere will air on Thursday, September 28 at 9 p.m. ET. For all the other upcoming premiere dates, check out our summer TV schedule and our fall TV premiere guide. If you're not up on all the reboots and revivals that are on the way, our breakdown of the biggest and most exciting can help you out.
