‘Dawson’s Creek’: Who Does Joey Potter End up With?
Dawson’s Creek has officially hit Netflix and while fans have to do without the original theme song, they’re eager to catch up with Dawson, Joey, and Pacey. Spanning six seasons and 128 episodes, the highly popular teen drama changed the landscape of teen shows. Exploring adult themes like sexuality, loss, and sexual orientation, the show has become somewhat of a blueprint for teen soaps that followed. But one thing about Dawson’s Creek that always sticks out to fans is the intense and long-lasting love triangle.
From the very first episode of Dawson’s Creek, it’s clear that Dawson Leery and his best friend, Joey Potter have a strong bond. Having been friends for years, the pair have grown up together and understand one another like nobody else does. But, it’s also clear that Joey has strong chemistry with Dawson’s male best friend, Pacey Witter. Though Pacey and Joey can’t stand the sight of one another, it’s clear that something is brewing between them and that finally comes to a head in Season 3.
‘Dawson’s Creek’ features a love triangle with Joey, Pacey, and Dawson
Though Joey dates other men throughout the six seasons of Dawson’s Creek, her most significant relationships are with Pacey and Dawson. She flip-flops back and forth between the pair many times throughout the show, so who does she ultimately end up with? As the show focuses so heavily on the concept of soulmates, fans are always eager to know if Joey ended up with Dawson, Pacey, or some other man entirely.
Funnily enough, the start of the series finale of Dawson’s Creek finds Joey living in New York with her boyfriend, Christopher. However, while packing for a weekend getaway, she finds an engagement ring and bolts to Capeside. Naturally, this brings her back in contact with Pacey and Dawson and she breaks things off with Christopher because she still has feelings for her ex-boyfriends. But, who does she end up with?
The concept of soulmates is explored in a number of episodes
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kevin Williamson, who created Dawson’s Creek and wrote the series finale, revealed that he always planned on Joey and Dawson ending up together because the pair were soulmates. “It was agonizing!” Williamson shared about writing an ending for Dawson and Joey. “And painful! I actually wrote the ending with them together and then something was troubling me about it. I wanted to honor the show and what you start with. But where you end is just never in the same place.”
Williamson continued on to share that his original ending, where Joey and Dawson ended up together, wasn’t sitting well with him. Dawson’s Creek had always been about breaking the mold and standing apart from other TV shows. So Williamson went back to the drawing board and used references from his own life to imagine an alternate ending.
Who does Joey Potter end up with?
“This story was always a coming-of-age story in which I tried to break the mold and do a different version of 90210 and to do things differently.” the Dawson’s Creek creator shared. “So why can’t we redefine or at least show another side of what soul mates are? That’s what I wanted to do. Ask me today who my soul mate is and I’ll tell you that I have a best friend and there’s no romantic connection and that best friend is my soul mate.”
Ultimately, Williamson decided that Joey and Pacey belonged together romantically and that’s who Joey ends up with in the end. But, the Dawson’s Creek writer argues that Joey and Dawson still ended up together. After all, they’re soulmates and will always have an unbreakable bond. The same is true for Joey and Pacey and even Dawson and Pacey.
Dawson’s Creek creator, Kevin Williamson, explains the show’s ending
“Soul mates are not always your romantic love,” Willamson stated, further explaining why he chose to end Dawson’s Creek the way he did. “The way that I see it, Dawson and Joey ended up together. They’re soul mates forever. And they have that deep bond of friendship that will never, ever go away. But her romantic love for Pacey was who she wanted to be with and share her life with. And in a weird way they’re all soul mates. Dawson and Pacey were always going to be best friends.”
We know that the Dawson’s Creek fans who wanted Dawson and Joey to be together romantically won’t necessarily be appeased by Williamson’s explanation. But since we’re solidly Team Pacey, we think things between the trio played out perfectly.
