David Hyde Pierce Has Seen The ‘Frasier’ Reboot—Here’s What He Thinks About It

David Hyde Pierce left big shoes to fill when he turned down the offer to reprise his role as Niles Crane in the recent Frasier reboot. His absence caused a shift in the plot, which made fans wonder if Niles was dead or had a terrible fallout with his older brother, Dr. Frasier Crane.

On seeing the show, Pierce is satisfied with his decision to reject the gig, saying they don’t actually need him. “‘Frasier’ has moved on to a new world. They have new characters. And I think I’m right. It’s doing great. And the new people they have are great,” he said.

Pierce is working on other things

Pierce noted he “wanted to do other things,” hence his decision, which was disheartening for viewers. “I never really wanted to go back. It’s not like I said, ‘Oh, I don’t ever want to do that again.’ I loved every moment,” he said. Pierce appeared in the off-Broadway musical Here We Are, which premiered in September.

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He currently stars in the Max series, Julia, where he plays Paul Child alongside Fran Kranz, Judith Light, and several other actors. “When we got into real talks about the reboot, I had just started on the ‘Julia’ TV show and was working on a musical and going to do another musical, not this one. I just thought, ‘I don’t want to be committed to a show and not be able to do stuff like this,” he explained.

The bright side of Niles’ absence

Showrunners Chris Harris and Joe Cristalli admitted that Pierce’s choice was “a tough setback at the moment, but ultimately very freeing,” as it made room for creativity and character evolutions. “It let us build the show more organically from the ground up, focusing more on Frasier and Freddie’s relationship,” Harris said. “The flip side of that is we don’t have several of the beloved characters that the original series had.”

If Pierce were to make a comeback, Harris assured room for his character in a way that would keep Frasier and Freddie’s close bond unaffected. “Chris and I would have come up with something to evolve the character, make him fun and we’d love to still do that,” Harris added. “But from his point of view, he felt like he wouldn’t add to this new version of Frasier and his son.”