Trivia / Will & Grace

• Actor Leaves, Character Dies: The producers were unable to get Shelley Morrison to come out of retirement for the revival, so one episode had Rosario suffer a fatal heart attack while in the hospital.
• The Character Died with Him: Will's boss Mr. Doucette (Gregory Hines). The revival states that Grace's Mother Bobbi Adler (Debbie Reynolds) passed away between seasons.
• Fake American: For a while. Eric McCormack was born in Toronto, but became a US citizen in 1999.
• Hide Your Pregnancy: Debra Messing's pregnancy during the sixth season was ineffectually concealed by the standard bag of tricks: oversized clothing, wearing lots of black, belly-concealing props and so on. Messing ultimately had to skip five episodes that season on doctor's orders.
• Hostility on the Set: The on-set feud between Megan Mullally (Karen) and Debra Messing (Grace) during the revival. Megan Mullally claims she has been "bullied at work" and their feud is the reason why Karen is strangely absent from two episodes of the final season.
• I Am Not Spock: When Eric McCormack hosted Saturday Night Live, during his opening monologue, he sang a song about how he is NOTHING like Will, mentioning his love for (among other things) Steve McQueen movies, beer, and Professional Wrestling.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: A number of the “supersized” episodes have only been released on DVD and streaming in their syndicated forms; the original, full-length versions have not been seen since their original airings.
• The Other Darrin:
  • John Slattery originated the role of Sam, Will's older brother. Steven Weber eventually replaced him.
  • Grace's older sister, Janet, was played by Geena Davis during the original run. In the revival, Mary McCormack took over the role.
  • Grace's father, Martin, was first played by Alan Arkin. When Arkin was unavailable for the revival, Robert Klein replaced him.
  • Chris Potter played Michael, Will's ex-boyfriend, back in season 2. Cheyenne Jackson assumed the role in the revival.
• Queer Character, Queer Actor: Sean Hayes played Jack McFarland on Will & Grace but was not "officially" out during the show's initial run. When he "officially" came out in an Advocate article in the run-up to playing the gay title character in Sean Saves the World he took the position that he had "never been in". With the return of W&G, Jack is at last played by an actor known to have a matching orientation.
• Reality Subtext: The b-plot of "The Scales of Justice" deals with Grace and Jack going to extreme lengths to lose weight. Debra Messing admitted to feeling the need to remain skinny during the show's original run.
• Real-Life Relative:
  • In the episode "It's the Gay Pumpkin, Charlie Brown", co-creator David Kohan's daughter Olivia and assistant editor Todd Morris' daughter Bianca play trick-or-treaters.
  • Megan Mullally's real-life husband Nick Offerman, now well-known as Ron Swanson, played a plumber whom Karen had an affair with on Thanksgiving. He would later appear in the revival as Jackson Boudreaux (see You Look Familiar below).
  • Posthumous example: Billie Lourd has played Grace's niece, which makes her the granddaughter of the character played by Debbie Reynolds, Lourd's actual grandmother (via Carrie Fisher).
  • Jack Black was dating Laura Kightlinger (one of the writers who also played the recurring character Nurse Sheila) when he appeared on the show in season six.
• Referenced by...: Animaniacs (2020) referenced the show during their song about reboots.
• Stunt Casting: Done an awful lot within a couple years — it seemed like pretty much every high-profile gay-friendly celebrity in Hollywood was doing one-shots on the show. Madonna, Cher, Jennifer Lopez, etc.
• Un-Cancelled: Ten years after the show's original run ended in 2006, the cast reunited in 2016 for what was supposed to be a one-off short to encourage people to vote. It was surprisingly well-received, prompting NBC to soon bring the show back for two new seasons before adding a third to their order.
• What Could Have Been:
  • John Barrowman was one of the final candidates to play Will Truman, but they didn't think he was "gay enough."
  • While attending the Sundance Film Festival, Sean Hayes was asked to read for Will. Struggling for money at the time, he couldn't afford to change his flight to make the audition. Eric McCormack had been cast by the time he returned, so the producers asked if he'd like to read for Jack instead.
  • Megan Mullally originally read for Grace, which she claims did not go well. She was initially reluctant to play Karen, fearing the character was too similar to Maryanne Thorpe on Cybill. Ultimately, she just decided to make Karen "weirder," which helped her grasp the part.
  • Nicollette Sheridan was one of the finalists to play Grace. She later made a guest appearance.
  • There were discussions of a Jack and Karen spin-off, but after the Friends spin-off Joey got cancelled, the creators decided against the idea. Jack does some Leaning on the Fourth Wall in one episode, where he wonders aloud if maybe people somewhere are watching their lives unfold. Karen dismisses the idea because a Jack and Karen show would be "good for poops and giggles, but it would never last."
  • Barbra Streisand was long sought after to make a guest appearance but repeatedly declined offers. Both she and Meryl Streep turned down the role of Karen's sister, Gin. Bernadette Peters was ultimately cast.
  • Megan Mullally spoke in 2009 of the idea for a Karen Walker musical on Broadway. She said it might feature Leslie Jordan as Karen's verbal sparring partner Beverly Leslie. Legal issues prevented the show from progressing very far.
  • Rosario was initially planned to appear in the revival, but Shelley Morrison had retired and declined the offer to come back. They killed Rosario off instead, while Morrison herself would pass away two years later.
  • Dax Shepard was initially chosen to play Jackson Boudreaux, but was fired after the first table read. Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally's husband, replaced him.
  • McCoy Whitman was only supposed to appear once, but the producers liked Matt Bomer so much that they upgraded him into a recurring character.
• You Look Familiar:
  • Amy Crofoot was a regular extra and occasional bit player. Her notable speaking parts include the school secretary in "I Never Promised You an Olive Garden," the NBC receptionist in "Acting Out," and the nursing student who sang "Hurts So Good" at Jack's graduation in "Speechless."
  • Mary Pat Gleeson made two appearances as Sally, a kooky homeless woman, during the first run. In the revival, she appeared as Bridget, one of Karen's maids.
  • Nick Offerman first appeared as the plumber Karen contemplated an affair with during the series' original run. In the revival, he returned as Jackson Boudreaux, a bisexual chef interested in both Will and Grace.
  • Kyle Bornheimer played a waiter in season 8. In season 9, he played Secret Service agent Lenny, whom Jack is sweet on.

---