We can thank President Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton for the upcoming revival of Will & Grace, according to Debra Messing.
“The campaign season between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton absolutely was the catalyst for us coming back,” the actress, 48, revealed at the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills on Thursday, August 3. “If that election did not happen and it was a different kind of campaign season, we could not be here right now.”
The NBC sitcom’s original cast members Messing, Eric McCormack, Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes first reunited in September 2016 for a nine-plus-minute video released hours ahead of the first presidential debate.
“Just doing that made us realize that there is a kind of magical synergy between the four of us that just is there,” Messing, who plays Grace Adler, said at TCA. “And the writing was just so smart and funny and relevant. I think that gave us all the confidence to say, ‘OK, will this work in everyone’s lives? And if it does, by all means, let’s dive in together.'”
That viral scene resulted in the upcoming reboot of Will & Grace, which premieres this fall. And NBC announced on Thursday that the series has already been renewed for a 13-episode second season, something that Messing never imagined would happen.
“Never, never in a zillion years,” she said at TCA. “I always said we can’t do anything until we’re in our 70s and we can do the geriatric version of Will & Grace and I’m in for that. Golden Girls is genius and I could see us doing that.”
Kidding aside, the Emmy winner is beyond thrilled to reunite with the cast. “We really are like brothers and sisters,” she gushed. “We can’t keep our hands off of each other. We are the happiest when we are totally inappropriate with each other and we make each other giggle, and I think that is the thing that I am looking forward to the most.”
Will & Grace returns to NBC on Thursday, September 28, at 9 p.m. ET.
