It’s not every day that you hear about a classic and beloved ’90s show nearly making a revival series work but coming up short and feeling immediate relief. You would think that if the cast and crew of your favorite show was looking to make a comeback, you would feel excited. But sometimes, great things need to be left in the past, and that’s exactly the case with Dawson’s Creek.
According to a new interview with Dawson’s Creek creator Kevin Williamson with TV Insider, there was almost a reboot of The WB’s wildly successful teen drama series born out of the post-COVID nostalgia haze. Williamson says that stars James Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, and Joshua Jackson were all interested to reprise their roles, but their schedules could never align.
While there was never official word of a Dawson’s Creek reboot in development from Sony Pictures Television, which owns the show’s IP, Williamson admits that the company was trying to secure an idea from him and was courting the main trio to return. They wanted to return and ideas were tossed around, but it’s a blessing in disguise that nothing ever came to fruition.
Here’s what Williamson said to TV Insider about the proposed reboot series:
“I thought Dawson’s Creek was behind me and in the past, but they desperately kept trying to get me to go back to it when there was that reboot craze. They kept trying and trying to get me, trying to get James, trying to get Katie, and get us all involved. James wanted to do it, but then Josh was busy. Katie wanted to do it, then James was busy. No one could come to terms at the same time to put it together.”
Dawson’s Creek never needs to be rebooted
If you’re wondering why Michelle Williams wasn’t mentioned to be in the mix, perhaps you have understandably blocked out the Dawson’s Creek series finale. In the two-part series ender, which flashed forward five years, Williams’ character Jen died after a brief battle with heart failure. It’s a maddening twist that reduces Jen to plot device. Seriously, don’t even get me started.
That’s part of the reason why Dawson’s Creek never needs to stage any sort of comeback. The ending told the story that needed to be told. Joey ended up with Pacey, and Dawson achieved his dream of working with Steven Spielberg. It’s unclear exactly what story’s left to be told, since returning to Capeside would require conflict and unraveling the series finale resolutions.
Williamson seems to agree and doesn’t hold any lingering desire to head back to the creek:
“We kind of just went, ‘We did it and it was good.’ And what would it be today? We did the finale, we felt it was complete, we did five years in the future. You could definitely do a story about the children of [these characters] if you wanted to. You could maybe even do a This Is Us sort of thing. But ultimately, we felt like maybe it could live again in another way, but not as a reboot.”
Would I have watched a Dawson’s Creek reboot or revival if one was made? Absolutely. The series easily ranks in my personal top 10 favorite shows of all time, as much as I tried to fight that truth. It’s just so well-written, not solely in terms of its elevated vocabulary, but in its emotional vocabulary. The show gets dunked on for being corny, but you can’t deny it’s one of the best of its genre.
Dawson’s Creek doesn’t need to be reopened, either as a reboot or a revival. We really don’t need a new generation of Capeside teens, whether related to the original group or not. We don’t need to watch Joey struggle to decide between Dawson and Pacey again, 25 years later. Everything we need is in those original six seasons and couldn’t be replicated with the same feeling.
Busy Philipps, who starred in seasons 5 and 6, recently opened up about the cast wanting to reunite in support of Van Der Beek’s colorectal cancer diagnosis. It’s unclear in what form the reunion would be, but it likely wouldn’t be for something scripted. The Capeside crew last got together to celebrate the show’s 20th anniversary in 2018 for Entertainment Weekly. Honestly, that suffices.
All six seasons of Dawson’s Creek are available to stream on Hulu.
