‘Frasier’ Alum Gives Promising Update on Revival, Casts Doubt on Own Return

David Hyde Pierce is back on television, but not as Dr. Niles Crane, the Fraiser role that earned him four Emmy wins. Pierce is not even sure if he will be involved in the long-gestating Frasier revival, the Julia star said in a new interview. Kelsey Grammer is set to return as Dr. Fraiser Crane in a Paramount+ Frasier revival, announced last year.

“It’s happening, but I don’t know in what form, and I don’t know when, so I don’t know where I’ll be and what I’ll be doing,” Pierce told The Guardian while promoting Julia. “I’m certainly interested to see what they come up with.”

Pierce is now busy as Paul Cushing Child, the husband of Julia Child, on HBO Max’s Julia. Sarah Lancashire (Happy Valley, Last Tango in Halifax) plays Julia Child. Bebe Neuwirth, another Frasier alum, stars as the influential cookbook editor Avis DeVoto.

“Niles is a person who lived in spite of his body,” Pierce told The Guardian when describing the differences between Paul and Niles. “And Paul is a man who lives completely in his body… Both shows are about family. About people who are literate. Written by people who are literate. Yet they are also both very accessible and not highfalutin.”

Grammer has been talking about returning to Dr. Frasier Crane for years, but it was not until March 2021 that Paramount+ officially announced the project. “Having spent over 20 years of my creative life on the Paramount lot, producing shows and performing in several, I’d like to congratulate Paramount+ on its entry into the streaming world,” Grammer said last year. “I gleefully anticipate sharing the next chapter in the continuing journey of Dr. Frasier Crane.”

The biggest mystery surrounding the Frasier revival is how Grammer’s co-stars could be involved. Frasier originally ended with the radio psychiatrist leaving Chicago to live with Charlotte (Laura Linney). His relationship with his father, Martin, played by the late John Mahoney, was also central to Fraiser. In June 2021, Grammer told Collider he hoped the new series would be released in the first quarter of 2022, but that isn’t going to happen. He also hoped to see his co-stars return.

“We think we’re going to get most of the actors back, I’m certainly hopeful that we will, and I’m fairly confident that they’ll come back,” Grammer said. “We have a story to tell – that can actually be told with or without them, honestly – but I want them back because that’s what I always dreamed of. I thought we should explore all their lives in their third act, and so that is my hope.”

However, in November 2021, Grammer told NJ.com he wasn’t so sure everyone could come back. “We are kicking it around. We have a couple of ideas, and we’re pretty happy with where we are right now,” he said. “We’re not so sure if everybody’s coming back, but I know there’s a third act for Frasier. Certainly, he’s got a lot of things to still explore.”

Grammer played Frasier for 20 years, between his introduction on Cheers in 1984 and the Frasier finale in 2004. He won four Emmys during Frasier, while the series won the Outstanding Comedy Series award every year from 1994 to 1998. Grammer also played Frasier in an episode of Wings and The John Larroquette Show.