James Van Der Beek, who recently passed away, and Kevin Williamson, who made Dawson’s Creek, were very close. They even thought about going back to that world at one point. But they lost track of time. Read on to see how a Dawson’s Creek revival could end up on Broadway after Van Der Beek’s untimely death.
Both of them saw themselves in the main character of that classic ’90s coming-of-age drama, which became a pop culture touchstone because fans could relate to Dawson Leery so easily. The character was a dreamer who was obsessed with movies and loved his friends very much. He used stories to deal with the ups and downs of life. Williamson says with a tearful smile, “He was Dawson.” “He always had questions about every script!”
James Van Der Beek’s Wife Kept In Touch
He says they never lost touch, not even at the end. Williamson says Kimberly was great about that. She is the wife of Van Der Beek and the mother of their six children. He said she was very in touch. The actor, who was 48 years old, died on February 11 after a long fight with colorectal cancer. The loss is still fresh, even though it happened just three weeks ago. Williamson talks about him only for a short time before getting choked up.
They worked together on six seasons and 128 episodes, all of which were made between 1998 and 2003, when they were both just getting started. At that point, Van Der Beek had only been in a few movies and TV shows in small roles, while Williamson had just become famous with the huge success of Scream in 1996.
Williamson said he knew Van Der Beek was Dawson from Beginning
Williamson said he knew him when he was very young. He remembers him coming to try out. As the show’s creator, he knew right away that they had found their Dawson, but the network and other producers were not so sure. Williamson recalls, “I don’t know what they said about him, but they didn’t want him,” he said, “And I was like, ‘Are you crazy? What’s wrong with you? That’s Dawson. Trust me.’
“I’ve always been resistant to Dawson’s Creek, Williamson says. “I always felt like, ‘Well, we did that. We finished it. He said in the last episode they jumped five years. They went to the future. The last episode of that show was the remake. He said he felt very okay with that. He expressed no desire to return to that world, despite his deep affection for it.
Van Der Beek Was Going To Write Dawson’s Creek Revival
Van Der Beek’s death ended that chance for good. James talked about rebooting Dawson’s Creek a few times. Williamson said he wanted to do it. And there was a time when he was going to write it, and he had a fantastic idea for it. He had a brilliant plan. Then I think he went on a show, and everyone got busy. It never took place. But people talked about it a lot.
He thinks this happened in 2016, which is about 13 years after Dawson’s Creek ended. Williamson said it was a long time ago, when Vampire Diaries was still on. He said they talked about it, but Michelle Williams’s character was no longer there. Four had turned into three. We talked about it, but it didn’t happen.
Williamson believes that the series could come back in a different way, like a musical that tells the same story in a shorter way. “I could see it more as a Broadway show, quite frankly,” he laughed and said, “You could do it with Scream too.”
What do you think about a Dawson’s Creek revival becoming a musical? Leave your thoughts in the Daily News Corner comments below.
