Dawson’s Creek ended in 2003, and for more than two decades, fans have been wanting a reunion — but the cast had mixed feelings.
OG stars James Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson and Michelle Williams hinted at the possibility for years, but it wasn’t until August 2025 that the cast announced that an official reunion was happening.
The actors, who played teens navigating love, high school and their own personal growth for six seasons, reunited for a one-night event in New York City in September 2025. The long-awaited reunion will included a live reading of the WB pilot to raise money for the F Cancer charity and Van Der Beek, who was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer in 2024. (He did not attend the event in person.)
Less than five months after the cast’s NYC reunion, Van Der Beek died in February 2026 at the age of 48. “James Van Der Beek was one in a billion and he will be forever missed and I don’t know what else to say,” his former costar Busy Philipps wrote via an Instagram tribute at the time.
Prior to his death, the cast frequently spoke about reuniting and left clues about getting together on more than one occasion. A look back:
James Van Der Beek
“I’ve gotten in touch with them recently and it’s just been so nice,” James Van Der Beek, who played Dawson Leery, said of his costars during a March 2025 episode of the “Whine Down” podcast.
He didn’t say why they got back in touch, but shared, “It’s just been so great to talk to them and catch up with, like, who they are now this many years out and to have that shared experience from back in the day. It’s just so lovely every time I get to catch up with one of them.”
When it came time to reunite with his costars in New York City in September 2025, Van Der Beek had to skip due to a sickness. He did share a message with his castmates and fans virtually.
“I have been looking forward to this night for months and months ever since my angel Michelle Williams said she was putting it together. I can’t believe I’m not there. I can’t believe I don’t get to see my castmates, my beautiful cast in person,” Van Der Beek said. “And I just want to stand on that stage and thank every single person in the theater for being here tonight.”
He added: “From the cast to the crew to everybody who’s doing anything and has been so generous, and especially every single last one of you — you are the best fans in the world. Thank you for coming. It’s just absolutely humbling just how much you did for this night, and I just want to say thank you. Thank you to every single person here.”
Katie Holmes
Katie Holmes, who played Dawson’s BFF and eventual love interest Joey Potter, has not directly spoken about a Dawson’s Creek reunion, but she shut down the idea of a reboot in July 2022. “We’ve definitely talked about it over the years,” she told Screen Rant at the time. “But I feel like that show captured that time period and that time in all of our lives.”
Holmes, however, was part of the in-person reunion in September 2025. She also reconnected with Jackson to film the upcoming trilogy, Happy Hours, in 2025.
Joshua Jackson
Joshua Jackson, who played Pacey Witter, revealed in September 2021 that he didn’t think a Dawson’s Creek reunion in the same format as that year’s Friends reunion on HBO was feasible. (In the Friends reunion, the cast got together to talk about the show, relive scenes and give updates on their lives.)
“I think because the Friends cast were already adults when they were doing the show, it’s less jarring to see them now,” Jackson told The Guardian. “If you put our mid-40s selves together on a couch now, with our creaking backs, it might shock people.”
He teased, “Nobody needs to hear Pacey grunting when he gets out of a chair.”
Michelle Williams
“We grew up in Capeside and that’s a bond that will last a lifetime,” Michelle Williams said in an August 2025 statement about the WB reunion that took place the following month. “We wanted to gather around our dear friend James and remind him that we are all here. We always have been and we always will be. And I know the fans of Dawson’s Creek feel the same way.”
Busy Philipps
“We’re really trying to figure something out, but there are a couple of people who have some work things that cannot be moved,” Busy Philipps, who played Audrey Liddell, exclusively told Luxury Handbag Shopping in March 2025 of getting the gang back together. “It’s like playing chess, trying to get everybody’s schedules to align. I’m very hopeful that at some point we will.”
She explained, “Everybody is, and I’m so glad to see and hear from James — and I know he posted on Instagram that he’s feeling well — and we just have all been really sending him every ounce of good wishes and prayers and hoping for the best.”
Philipps later exclusively told Us in May 2025, “Everybody loves Dawson’s Creek and I love it too,” noting it’s been nice to see fans “happy” that the cast has been spotted “hanging out” over the past year.
One month after the cast reunion, which James Van Der Beek missed due to an illness, Philipps exclusively told Us, “Everybody just came together, and everyone had great ideas and input, and [it was] all hands on deck.”
She recalled in October 2025, “We just really wanted it to be special and something that, even though James wasn’t able to be there, he would feel the love from the Richard Rogers theater on Broadway all the way to Texas.”
Kevin Williamson
The show’s creator Kevin Williamson confessed during the 2019 TV Critics Association summer press tour panel for Tell Me a Story that he was “dying to work with Josh Jackson again.” Williamson noted that his desire to reunite with the actor didn’t mean he was planning a reboot for Dawson’s Creek.
However, once the September 2025 reunion was announced, Williamson was bursting with excitement.
“I am so excited to reunite with James, Michelle, Katie, Joshua, and our Dawson’s Creek family for such a special night. Dawson’s Creek changed my life,” Williamson said in an August 2025 statement. “What began as a personal story about a young man and his friends navigating their way through the challenges of life became so much more than I ever dreamed.”
He added, “It created an enduring fandom and legacy all over the world. I am so honored to be a part of it and to support our beautiful friend, James, as we continue to navigate our way through life and its many challenges.”
Mary-Margaret Humes
Mary-Margaret Humes, who played Dawson’s mom, Gail Leery, recalled feeling left out when part of the cast reunited for an Entertainment Weekly photo shoot in March 2018. She exclusively told Us in May 2019 that her TV husband, John Wesley Shipp, who portrayed Mitch Leery, wasn’t as irked.
“I did take it a little more personally [than John] because there was all this talk about a possible reunion.” Humes explained to Us. “Because I’d been doing all of this on Instagram, which I — just a couple months before, I felt like I was helping to make a reunion happen. Not a photo shoot but actually bring the show back by revisiting what it was like.”
Humes noted that once she saw the EW cover, she posted via social media that she was upset to be excluded.
“I’m glad I spoke out, because Katie called me, James called me, Kerr [Smith] called me, Kevin texted me, Julie Plec texted me,” she recalled. “It reunited us, and now there is actual talk about, secret talk, like, ‘Maybe we should do this.’ So, fingers crossed. I don’t know anything more than anybody else, but there has been a group text going around saying, ‘Maybe it’s time.’”
