He will be missed.
Kelsey Grammer has revealed the reason why David Hyde Pierce will not be reprising his iconic role of Niles Crane in the upcoming Frasier reboot.
Last month, it was reported that a sequel series to the show had been picked up at Paramount+ and that Grammer will be an executive producer on the project.
While specific plot details are being kept under wraps for now, the reboot will be focused on a new chapter in Frasier Crane’s life in a different city.
Other Frasier cast members are not expected to be regulars on the project as it will focus on the title figure surrounded by new characters.
This itself was the premise for the Seattle-set original show, which was a spin-off of the Boston-set Cheers on which Grammer also played Frasier.
Kelsey Grammer as Frasier CraneIn a new interview with People Magazine, Grammer discussed why Hyde Pierce in particular will not be back for the reboot playing Frasier’s brother Niles.
“For a while, we were going to try to bring back the whole cast, the whole legacy cast,” he said.
“David basically decided he wasn’t really interested in repeating the performance of Niles.”
However, Grammer added that the casting development wound up helping the project.
“In a very funny way, it just took us to a new place, which was what we originally wanted to do anyway, which was a Fraser third act,” he explained.
“It’s an entirely new life for him.
“We’ll certainly be responsive about the fact that there was a brother and such.
“But the new world for Frasier is one of new friendships — and some new twists and turns he didn’t know were still in there.”
Since the original Frasier wrapped up in 2004, Hyde Pierce has gone on to have a very successful theatre career.
He also recently appeared in the HBO Max series Julia in which he played the husband of famous cook and TV personality Julia Child.
Hyde Pierce previously said he wasn’t sure if he would appear or not in a Frasier reboot, telling Vulture earlier this year:
“That whole time of my life, the writing on those shows, the actors I got to work with — all of that is deeply important to me.
“And I would never disrespect that in such a way as to say just offhandedly, ‘Oh, no, thanks. I’m not going to do that again.’ It’s too valuable to me.
“But by the same token, because it’s so valuable to me, I also wouldn’t do it just do it. And I believe it can be done without me, too — finding new stories to tell, in the same way that Frasier did after Cheers.
“They didn’t bring along the Cheers gang to make a new show. They popped in 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.
“And maybe they will find that and I’ll be in it, or maybe they’ll find it and they won’t need me to be in it.”
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