‘Frasier’ Star Kelsey Grammer Reveals Progress of the Revival
After years of trying to bring Frasier back to the small screen, Kelsey Grammer confirmed in February that it would be happening at Paramount Plus. Originally airing from 1993 to 2004, the series followed Dr. Frasier Crane (Grammer), a Seattle-based radio psychiatrist whose life could also use some improvement. Not much is known about the revival, but Grammer offered an update in a recent interview.
The ‘Frasier’ revival is finally happening
The news of the series first emerged at the end of February. Grammer reacted to the deal in a statement shared with Deadline, saying he “gleefully anticipate[d] sharing the next chapter in the continuing journey of Dr. Frasier Crane.”
“Frasier’s gonna move town. He’s gonna change cities again,” he later told WNBC New York of the plot, comparing Frasier to George Bailey from the film It’s a Wonderful Life. “He thinks he’s gonna go off and do one thing, and sure enough, his life takes him in another direction, and he ends up rich beyond his dreams.”
But to be clear, the revival is still very much in the early stages
Although there’s a script, there are still some things that need to be worked out, such as the cast. Grammer has said he would love for David Hyde Pierce (Niles Crane), Peri Gilpin (Roz Doyle), and Jane Leeves (Daphne Moon) to return to the show. (John Mahoney, who played family patriarch Martin Crane, died in 2018). But nothing is official yet.
“We’re negotiating with everybody,” Grammer said during an appearance on Today on Aug. 16. “We want everybody back, that’s my dream.”
“I hope everybody comes back,” he continued. “We certainly have alternative ideas and scenarios of there’s a new kind of thrust to… the new show. The third act for Frasier, the second act for the rest. And, uh, we just hope they all want to join us.”
Grammer previously told Collider the revival could be done without the rest of the Frasier cast, but he strongly believes they’ll be part of it.
“We think we’re going to get most of the actors back, I’m certainly hopeful that we will, and I’m fairly confident that they’ll come back…,” he explained. “We have a story to tell — that can actually be told with or without them, honestly — but I want them back because that’s what I always dreamed of. I thought we should explore all their lives in their third act, and so that is my hope.”
He also shared a possible release date
In the same Collider interview, Grammer was asked about the production schedule for the revival.
“Well, we don’t actually have a date when we’re going to start filming,” he replied. “We’re still kind of breaking the story a little bit, we’re doing a polish now.” Yet even with the story in the works, Grammer did say, “When will we see a Frasier? Probably in the first quarter of next year.”
It’s unclear if that’s still the goal, given Grammer’s latest update. But it’s still so early on that a 2022 premiere could very well happen. We’ll see how things pan out.
