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An original Frasier cast member has explained why they don’t want to return for the revival series.
Wendie Malick appeared in the hit sitcom’s original run, which lasted from 1993 to 2004, playing Ronee Lawrence in season 11.
In the show, Ronee was the childhood babysitter of Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) and his brother Niles (David Hyde Pierce) who was introduced in the show as a love interest of their father Martin (John Mahoney).
Frasier is currently enjoying a second wind, with the conclusion of the reboot’s latest season drawing to an end this week. While this season welcomed back original stars Peri Gilpin, Harriet Sansom Harris, Dan Butler and Edward Hibbert, many original stars – including Hyde Pierce – are not present.
Malick has now addressed a possible return to the show, but remained coy about the idea for a rather moving reason. The actor said she would not want to reprise the role of Ronee due to the fact that Mahoney died in 2018.
The actor, who appears in Apple TV+ series Shrinking as Dr Julie Baram alongside Jason Segel and Harrison Ford, told TV Insider: “It’s sort of like when people ask me about Just Shoot Me. Without George Segal, I just don’t think it would feel right.
“I had such a connection to John Mahoney playing his love interest and finally marrying him that I’m not sure that I want to revisit that.
Malick continued: “That was something that was such a lovely ride, and that season was so much fun and I was honoured to be part of it. And sometimes I think you feel like you took your character as far as you could, and then maybe you just leave it and savour those memories.
“Never say never, but that’s my gut feeling.”
Hyde Pierce, speaking about his potential involvement, with Vulture in June 2022 said: “That whole time of my life, the writing on those shows, the actors I got to work with – all of that is deeply important to me. And I would never disrespect that in such a way as to say just offhandedly, ‘Oh, no, thanks. I’m not going to do that again.’ It’s too valuable to me.”
However, the actor said that he “wouldn’t just do it” for the reason that the experience was such a “valuable” one.
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“I believe it can be done without me, too – finding new stories to tell, in the same way that Frasier did after Cheers. They didn’t bring along the Cheers gang to make a new show.”
Frasier is available to stream on Paramount+.
