Will Niles Be Gay in the New ‘Frasier’ Reboot?
A Frasier reboot could soon follow revived series like Will & Grace, Murphy Brown and Roseanne.
Deadline reports that the show’s star and executive producer, Kelsey Grammer, is in talks with writers to create a new series about the pompous psychiatrist after he moves to a new city from Seattle.
We’re not sure if that means other cast members wouldn’t be invited back, but any Frasier reboot needs David Hyde Pierce. Hopefully this time Niles would be able to come out, even if it meant breaking Daphne’s heart. (Though, deep down, didn’t she always know?)
Over its 11 seasons the original Frasier was something of a refuge for gay actors: In addition to Pierce, the show included John Mahoney, Edward Hibbert and Dan Butler. In one hilarious episode the gang went to a ski lodge, where Daphne had the hots for a French ski instructor, Guy, who was actually gay and smitten with Niles.
If producers settle on a writer and a premise, Deadline reports, the project could move closer to actual filming, though Grammer and CBS TV Studios declined to comment.
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Spinning off of Cheers in 1994, Frasier was created for NBC by Peter Casey, David Lee and David Angell. When it went off the air in 2004, it had earned 37 Emmys, the most for any scripted show, including five consecutive awards for Outstanding Comedy.
Since then Grammer has produced shows like Medium and Girlfriends and starred as Beast in 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand. Two later attempts at sitcoms — Fox’s Back to You and ABC’s Hank — proved disastrous, but the 63-year-old had better luck with the Starz drama Boss, which earned him a Best Actor Golden Globe, and the upcoming Fox legal drama Proven Innocent.
He appeared on Broadway in 2010 in La Cage aux Folles, earning a Tony nomination, and again in 2015’s Finding Neverland. Pierce recently returned to Hello, Dolly! with Bette Midler for a limited six-week engagement before the musical closes on Aug. 25.
