David Hyde Pierce Addresses Absence From ‘Frasier’ Revival

Frasier alum David Hyde Pierce chose to sit out the show’s new revival, and he’s now publicly addressed his absence. Speaking to The Los Angeles Times in a recent interview, Pierce explained, “It’s not like I said, ‘Oh, I don’t ever want to do that again.’ I loved every moment.”

“It was that I wanted to do other things,” he went on to say, clarifying that his decision was based more on a desire for new opportunities rather than a disinterest in reprising his role as Niles Crane. “And when we got into real talks about the reboot, I had just started on the Julia TV show and was working on a musical and going to do another musical. And I just thought, ‘I don’t want to be committed to a show and not be able to do stuff like this.’”

“And I also thought, ‘They don’t actually need me,’” Pierce addd. “Frasier has moved on to a new world. They have new characters. And I think I’m right. It’s doing great. And the new people they have are great.”

Frasier first aired in 1993 as a spinoff of the classic sitcom Cheers. The show went on to air 264 episodes over the course of 11 seasons, eventually taking its final bow in 2004. In addition to Grammer as Frasier Crane, the show also starred Pierce as Frasier’s younger brother Niles, and the late John Mahoney as Martin, Frasier and Niles’ father. The series also featured Peri Gilpin as Frasier’s radio show producer Roz Doyle and Jane Leeves as Frasier’s live-in housekeeper Daphne Moon, who later became Niles’ love interest. Notably, Pierce and Leeves will not be part of the revival series.

News of a Frasier revival first emerged in 2018, when it was reported that Grammer had been taking meetings with writers who were pitching him concepts for where the characters would be now. During a subsequent interview on the TODAY show that same year, Grammer admitted that he had been “talking to some writers about it.” He then added, “We’ve listened to a couple of takes. We have a couple of ideas that might work out. I don’t want to go back to the apartment and pretend I never left Seattle.” Grammer then referenced another recent ’90s sitcom revival, saying, “Hats off to Will & Grace… But I don’t want to do that. So, we’ll see.”

The actor also spoke with Vulture about the revival prospect and implied that new characters and cast members were on the table, though nothing concrete had been hammered out yet. “Certainly, I think everyone that was on the show should be on this show, and then go from there,” he said. “I know that some people have written things that are different than that, but they got a lot of it wrong.”