Entertainment
Will & Grace’s Friendship Will Undergo A Huge Change When The Show Comes Back
Even before the much-anticipated revival premiered, Will & Grace was renewed for another season, per The Hollywood Reporter. This current season is ending on April 5, but Will, Grace, Jack, and Karen have long been guaranteed to come back. But when Will & Grace will return is currently a bit of a mystery. There is no specified date for the Season 10 premiere yet. But no matter when the next season of Will & Grace graces your TV, the series ought to continue to provide the same sitcom comfort food that it always has.
UPDATE: It was announced via the show's official Twitter account that Will & Grace will return Oct. 4 on NBC.
EARLIER: NBC has been keen to crow about the success of the Will & Grace revival, so it's slightly surprising that the network hasn't announced a premiere date for the second season of the reboot yet. But NBC obviously wants to keep this revival train going for as long as possible since the Will & Grace revival was already renewed for Season 3 in mid-March, weeks before the Season 1 finale. So unlike many shows where you wait anxiously to hear if they will come back, the question with Will & Grace is not "if," it's "when."
One major clue to the "when" question is the fact that the series has only ever premiered at the beginning of the traditional TV season — and that includes both in its original eight-season run and its revival. And TVLine reported that this tenth season will be no different with the 18 episodes scheduled to premiere in fall 2018.
Considering that fans waited over a decade for the show to come back, waiting five or six months until September or October is nothing. And when Will & Grace does return, you can expect the same political and social commentary, the same repartee, and the same Will, Grace, Karen, and Jack. With the first revival season coming to a close, it's clearer than ever that this revival Will & Grace is more or less the same as the original. So here's what you can anticipate from the tenth season of Will & Grace — with a few curves balls added in.
More Returning Guest Stars
While some reoccuring characters were recast in Season 9 (like Grace's older sister), other actors were happy to reprise their roles, including Alec Baldwin, Minnie Driver, Leslie Jordan, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Angarano, and Harry Connick Jr. Even guest stars like Jennifer Lopez came back for the first season of the revival. So whether they were reoccurring characters or guest stars, more big names who appeared in the original series will surely return for the tenth year. Here's looking at you, Woody Harrelson and Cher.
More New Guest Stars
Because guest stars are such an integral part of Will & Grace, the show will continue to draw in actors who weren't even big names when the original aired, like Andrew Rannells, Max Greenfield, Ben Platt, and Vanessa Bayer. But classic celebs are also always welcome too. Debra Messing told TV Insider that she really wants Barbra Streisand to play Grace's aunt.
More Political Jokes
Creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan told Variety at 2018's PaleyFest that they won't include political stories in Season 2 just for the sake of it. Instead, the political tone for future seasons "honestly depends on what is happening in the world," Mutchnick said. "The world is very political right now, so those are the stories we’re telling because it's what's going on in the world." And since Donald Trump will (probably) still be president in the fall of 2018, that means the Trump jokes should be sticking around.
A New Dynamic For Will & Grace
"We're ending the season with Will and Grace in a dynamic that we have never seen them in or written them near in the entire life of the show," Mutchnick told Vanity Fair. And based on preview photos of the finale, it looks like Will's mom Marilyn (Blythe Danner) and Grace's dad Martin (originally played by Alan Arkin with Robert Klein replacing him in the reboot) hit it off a little too well. Will's dad George was killed off the show in Season 8 (the actor who portrayed him, Sydney Pollack, died in real life in 2008). But since Debbie Reynolds (who played Grace's mom Bobbi) died in 2016, there's a new opportunity to set up Will's mother and Grace's father. So it's possible that Season 2 of the revival will see Marilyn and Martin dating or even marrying, which would make Will and Grace (gasp!) stepsiblings.
New Storylines About Race
Another potential change in Season 2 could be more storylines about race. Will & Grace has always been a show about four white people, but Variety reported that Megan Mullally said at PaleyFest that she "would like to address race a little bit more than we do." As Will & Grace continues its efforts to be relevant, this would be a welcome adjustment.
A New Relationship For Jack
Jack was ready to settle down for the first time with his newly out boyfriend Drew (Ryan Pinkston), but the police officer ended things with Jack in "One Job." But those aforementioned preview photos for the finale show Jack moving on with a new love interest, Brian Jordan Alvarez's Estefan. And it seems that these two might just become rather committed rather fast, so expect a big life change for Jack in the tenth season.
So it looks like Will & Grace will progress its characters even more between Seasons 9 and 10 than it did between the original seasons and the revival. But whatever changes they endure, the chemistry between the four leads will always be the same.
