Will & Grace’s return helps raise profile of LGBTQ characters in US television
Eric McCormack, Sean Hayes, Debra Messing and Megan Mullally reunite for the series that did much to improve public opinion of the gay community, and industry monitor finds LGBTQ representation on small screen continues to rise
US television is set to welcome back two flag-bearers of LGBTQ representation as NBC returns to a series that made history for the network in 1998: Will & Grace.
The cast of Eric McCormack, Sean Hayes, Debra Messing and Megan Mullally have reunited to bring back a series that didn’t just devote one episode or designate a minor character as LGBTQ, but featured two gay main characters (McCormack, who plays Will, and Hayes, as his flamboyant friend Jack).
Gay activist condemns ‘outrageous’ treatment of LGBT issues in Hong Kong schools
Will & Grace executive producer Max Mutchnick promises the series will maintain the direction it had when it originally launched 20 years ago and will be about inclusion.
“That’s what we started with and that’s the type of … characters that they are, so I think when we come back, we will get to it again. But it’s just going to be about trying to make the funniest shows that we can with these characters passing through the life that you all know is taking place out there right now,” Mutchnick says.
Messing, who plays the titular Grace, adds that during the original run, only LGB characters were featured and she wants to “finish the alphabet” with this new series.