Megan Mullally: 'Millennials will love Will and Grace reboot – even if they watch it on their phones'

The US actress, 58, will reprise her role as boozy socialite Karen Walker in 12 new episodes 
Comeback: Megan Mullally, who is touring with Nancy and Beth, is back in Will and Grace
Mike Windle/Getty Images
Jennifer Ruby19 April 2017
The Weekender

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Will and Grace star Megan Mullally has claimed the revived sitcom will be a hit with millenials who missed it the first time round – even if they are watching it on their phones.

The US actress and comedian, 58, will be reprising her role as boozy socialite Karen Walker in the forthcoming revival of the late 1990s sitcom, which aired its last series 11 years ago.

“The main priority is that the show be funny because that was the whole thing for eight seasons,” she told the Standard.

“That was always the most important element and I think the dynamics between the characters are so bullet proof.”

Reunited: Megan Mullally with Sean Hayes, Eric McCormack and Debra Messing
NBC

Mullally seems certain that the new series, which has been commissioned for 12 episodes and is due to shoot in August, will find a new audience as well as keeping its die-hard fans happy.

“I feel like there are millennials who have never seen a new multi-cam sitcom. There are lots of people who are really excited about it and talking about it,” she said.

“I talked to a lot of younger people who would fall into the millennial range and they’re really excited about it, they’re telling me that they’re going to watch it. They’ll watch it on their phones but they’ll watch it.”

After the cast reunited for a 10-minute video ahead of the US elections last year, fans called for a reboot of the Emmy Award-winning sitcom.

“I think it was once we did that election video in September or October,” said Mullally. “I got the script for that a couple of days before we got together to shoot it and I read the script and I was laughing out loud.

“I read the last line of the script, I put it down, I picked up my phone and emailed one of the creators of the show and I said ‘Why can’t we do that show again’ and he emailed back ‘We can’.

“I just loved it, I realised we could just do it. At the shoot for the election video everyone was like ‘Can we do this show again?’ Everybody was talking about it.”

The buzz around the show’s reboot comes at a great time for Mullally, who is currently touring with her musical duo, Nancy and Beth.

Self-described as a ‘punk, vaudeville’ band, Mullally and partner Stephanie Hunt perform fully-choreographed routines to a “whole range of covers from all different eras and genres.”

“It still has a punchy, unformed element to it but it’s also extremely ‘showbiz exclamation point,’” said Mullally.

Talking about playing in London, Mullally added: “It seems more London to me than America.

“I’m so excited that we’re playing in London. First of all, I could move to London tomorrow, we just love it here.

“It seems to be a crowd pleaser across the board, which is what is so fun about it. There’s this punk, vaudeville feel to the band and I just feel like it’s going to go over very well here.”

Nancy and Beth perform at the Royal Festival Hall on Thursday. Tickets: http://www.neileckersleyproductions.com/megan-mulllally.html

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