'Will & Grace' stars reveal reasons for the two-season revival

PanARMENIAN.Net - For as many beloved shows that have been revived in recent years ("Full House", "Gilmore Girls", "The X-Files"), there are just as many stars of hit series who have said they're not interested in a revival — perhaps most famously, members of the cast of Friends.

But for fans of NBC's "Will & Grace", the show they loved for eight seasons that has been off the air for 11 years is about to make its triumphant return, launching what is essentially the show's ninth season on Thursday, September 28. In addition to forthcoming 16-episode season, the series has already been renewed for another 13-episode season, The Hollywood Reporter said.

So why did stars Debra Messing, Eric McCormack, Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally c to their beloved characters and series?

"It's a great show. It's a great piece of our history. We're very proud of it," McCormack told The Hollywood Reporter about why he decided to reprise his role of Will Truman.

Added Hayes, who plays Jack McFarland, "And we had more to say."

"And we had full confidence in [co-creators] Max [Mutchnick] and David [Kohan]," McCormack, who chatted with THR alongside Hayes, continued. "When they asked, my first and only question was, 'Do you have the stories to tell?' They said, 'Absolutely.' We said, 'Then let's go.' We have full trust in them that they have a plan."

Messing concurred that the stories and chance to say something made returning seem like a winning prospect, and the enthusiasm for the revival among the stars and NBC executives led to more episodes.

"Originally we only committed to 10, and then we got the first episode and we did a table read of it and it was electric and the laughter was deafening and the president of the network was there and that night he asked for more and for next year as well," the actress, who plays Grace Adler, explained to THR ahead of a panel and screening of the first episode of the revival at the inaugural Tribeca TV Festival in New York. "I think once we sat down and read the words together and realized that the most fundamental thing that allowed us to do what we did back then is still there and alive, we were like, 'OK, let's do this. We have something to say. We have an opportunity to do something that's never been done before. We get to explore characters 11 years later. We love each other and we love working together.' Win, win, win all around."

For Mullally, she was ready to keep playing the character of Karen Walker 11 years ago.

"I would still be doing it from 2006. It was a no-brainer. Everything made me want to come back," she said.

And as much as the stars, Kohan and Mutchnick have said the experience of working on the show is the same as it was 11 years ago, the world has changed significantly since then. Beyond the current political landscape that the revival will explore, the new episodes find Will, Grace, Jack and Karen in a world in which technology has changed and smartphones are far more ubiquitous than they were then.

"It's something that's just in everybody's hands at all times, so it will be in the characters' hands because that's how they communicate. So it's no different than it is in the real world," Kohan said.