The creators of the Frasier reboot have revealed the original premise of the series featured the return of David Hyde Pierce.
Pierce played Niles, the brother of Kelsey Grammer’s fusty psychiatrist Dr Frasier Crane, on the original Frasier from 1993 to 2004.
However, Pierce did not return for the reboot, which premiered last week on Paramount+. Fellow Frasier regular Jane Leeves also declined to return, though Peri Gilpin, who plays Roz, and Cheers star Bebe Neuwirth, who plays Frasier’s ex-wife Lilth, are both set to make guest appearances. John Mahoney, who played Frasier and Niles’s father Martin, died in 2018.
Speaking to Vulture, showrunners of the Frasier reboot Joe Cristalli and Chris Harris revealed that they had originally planned for the new series to focus on Frasier and Niles running a theatre together.
“For a long time, the idea was that Frasier and Niles were going to run a black-box theater, like how they bought that restaurant and brought it back to life [in the season two episode ‘The Innkeepers’],” said Cristalli.
“But it’s hard for Frasier and Niles to run the theatre when you don’t have Niles, so we had to step back from that.”
The writers said they discussed making Niles “the new Maris”, but decided it would be too “weird”. In the original Frasier, Maris is Niles’s wife, who is often mentioned but is never seen onscreen.
They also revealed that the first act of the reboot’s premiere was also meant to take place in Seattle, where the original series was set, and was to depict the funeral of Martin Crane. However, the absence of Pierce and Leeves meant that it “would’ve been heartbreaking and silly to try to explain it”.
‘Frasier’ sees Kelsey Grammer’s character return to Boston— (Chris Haston/Paramount+)
The showrunners nonetheless praised Pierce’s conduct over his decision not to return, with Cristalli saying: “He’s not the bad guy in this, and he was so lovely about it.”
In its finished incarnation, the Frasier reboot follows Frasier as he returns to Boston and is hired to teach at his alma mater, Havard.
Alongside Grammer, the series also stars Jack Cutmore-Scott as Frasier’s son Freddie, Anders Keith as his nephew David, Jess Salgueiro as Freddie’s roommate Jess, Toks Olagundoye as Olivia, the head of Havard’s psychology department, and Only Fools and Horses star Nicolas Lyndhurst as Alan, an old friend of Frasier’s who also teaches at the university.
Frasier is available to stream on Paramount+ now, with new episodes arriving weekly.
