Main

Eric McCormack and Debra Messing in 1999

Hayes in 2010

• Eric McCormack as Will Truman: The first titular protagonist in the show, Will is a gay man who is a successful corporate lawyer who studied at Columbia University, where he met Grace as a freshman; they have been best friends ever since. He is very precise and obsessive when it comes to certain tasks, especially cleaning, dressing, and decorating. However, Will does have a very patient and compassionate nature towards those close to him, often to a fault. Even though Will is gay, he sometimes tries to pass as straight; he has at times avoided admitting his sexual orientation to people. Several characters commented that his relationship with Grace is more like that of a married couple than two friends; at one point Will even considered having a baby with Grace.
• Debra Messing as Grace Adler: The other titular protagonist in the show, Grace is a straight interior decorator with a fondness for food and a sometimes selfish attitude. She has been Will's best friend since college and roommate throughout most of the show. Grace is Jewish but does not practice her religion staunchly. She plays as a neurotic counterbalance for Will's more everyman character. Grace tends to rely heavily on Will for moral and emotional support, especially after a break-up.
• Megan Mullally as Karen Walker: Karen "works" as Grace's assistant, making "Grace Adler Designs" popular among her socialite acquaintances. She is married to the wealthy (but unseen) Stanley Walker. Because of her husband's wealth, Karen does not actually need a job and it's shown in the pilot episode that she hadn't been cashing her paychecks, preferring to 'collect' them instead. She mentions at one point that she only took the job to get herself 'away from Stan and the kids.' Karen is also known for casually downing alcohol and prescription medication and has a venomous personality. However, she is very close to Jack, adores Grace, and throughout the show's run, warms up to Will. Even though she seems to be devoid of manners and social graces, Karen has shown bouts of intelligence: having a working knowledge of business/real estate market economics, a moderate understanding of computers, and a flair for interior design. She is also a certified public notary and an aficionado of various liquors and prescription drugs. Despite this, she is often unaware of her rudeness and thoughtless conduct toward the working and middle classes, often criticizing and mocking what she fails to understand.
• Sean Hayes as Jack McFarland: Will's close friend since college. Jack is flamboyantly gay, confident, and free-spirited, having been so from a young age. He drifts from man to man and changes occupations often, being very fickle when it comes to both. He has worked as a struggling actor, an acting instructor, a back-up dancer for Jennifer Lopez and Janet Jackson, a sales associate at Banana Republic and Barneys New York, a cater-waiter, a student nurse, Junior VP for Out TV, and host of his own Out TV talk show, called Jack Talk. Jack made four one-man shows (called Just Jack, Jack 2000, Jack 2001, and Jack 2002) to showcase his singing/dancing/acting abilities; all attempts having only marginal success. Early on in the show he establishes a close friendship with Karen; the pair often spend time together and orchestrate various pranks. Throughout the series, Jack relies on Will and Karen for financial support, but on the finale of the original series, he inherits Beverley Leslie's money and becomes very rich. His idol is Cher.
• Gary Grubbs as Harlin Polk (regular season 1; guest season 2): A major client of Will's in season one who ultimately fires him.
• Shelley Morrison as Rosario Salazar (regular seasons 3–8; recurring seasons 1–2): Karen's maid, and later Jack's wife then ex-wife because of a green card marriage. Morrison was invited to reprise her role when the series was revived, but declined, having retired from acting.
• Michael Angarano as Elliot (regular season 4; recurring seasons 3, 5–6, 8; special guest season 9): Jack's son. Shortly after learning of his biological father's death, Jack meets Elliot, his biological son created from sperm Jack donated at the age of 17.

Supporting

Conception

Creators of Will & Grace and real-life friends Max Mutchnick and David Kohan modeled the show after Mutchnick's relationship with childhood friend Janet Eisenberg, a New York City voice-over casting agent. Mutchnick, who is gay, met Eisenberg while rehearsing a play at Temple Emanuel in Beverly Hills, California, when aged 13.^[27] He was the main star of the Hebrew school musical, while she was a student in the drama department. About three years later, she introduced him to Kohan, the son of comedy writer Alan Kohan, in the drama department at Beverly Hills High School. "Max and Janet seemed to have a lovely rapport, but the romantic element confused me, and it confused them as well", Kohan later recalled. "They went out for a couple of years, then they went off to different colleges. And Max comes out of the closet, springs it on her—and she was stunned. It was a shocking revelation for her, so I kind of functioned as a liaison between the two of them, because they both still really loved each other."^[27]

While Kohan practiced his shuttle diplomacy, he and Mutchnick began developing sitcom ideas, which prompted the pair to start writing as a duo.^[27] They eventually landed staff jobs on HBO's adult-themed sitcom Dream On and executive produced the short-lived NBC sitcom Boston Common.^[27] In 1997, they developed an ensemble comedy about six friends, two of them based on Mutchnick and Eisenberg.^[27] At the same time, Warren Littlefield, the then-president of NBC Entertainment, was seeking another relationship comedy for the network as Mad About You was going off the air.^[28][29] When Kohan and Mutchnick pitched their idea, which centered on three couples, one of which was a gay man living with a straight woman, Littlefield was not excited about the first two couples, but wanted to learn more about the gay and straight couple, so Mutchnick and Kohan were sent to create a pilot script centering on those two characters.^[29] While Kohan and Mutchnick elaborated on the pilot script, they spent four tense months faxing Littlefield the box office grosses from hit films with gay characters such as The Birdcage and My Best Friend's Wedding.^[27]

NBC was positive about the project, but there was still some concern that the homosexual subject matter would cause alarm. Ellen DeGeneres's sitcom Ellen, which aired on ABC, was canceled the year before Will & Grace premiered because ratings had plummeted after the show became "too gay."^[30][31] Despite the criticism ABC received for DeGeneres's coming out episode, "The Puppy Episode", Kohan said, "there's no question that show made it easier for Will & Grace to make it on the air." He added: "Will & Grace had a better shot at succeeding where Ellen failed, however, because Will has known about his homosexuality for 20 years. He's not exploring that awkward territory for the first time, as Ellen did. The process of self-discovery and the pain most gay men go through is fascinating, but the average American is put off by it."^[32]

Pilot

Eric McCormack was the first actor cast in the series.^[33]

NBC went to sitcom director James Burrows to see what he thought of the homosexual subject matter and if an audience would be interested in the show.^[34] Burrows liked the idea and when he first read the script in November 1997, he decided that he wanted to direct it. Burrows said, "I knew that the boys had captured a genre and a group of characters I have never read before."^[28] The filming of the pilot began on March 15, 1998. The actors behind Will and Grace, Eric McCormack and Debra Messing, were positive about the series and they thought it had the potential to last long on television. McCormack said: "When shooting was finished that night, Debra and I were sitting on the couch and looking at each other and I said, 'We're gonna be on this set for a while.' And we sort of clasped hands, but we didn't want to say anything beyond that and jinx it."^[35]

The part of Will Truman went to Eric McCormack, who was the first actor cast in the series.^[33] Having played gay characters several times in his career, McCormack did not have a problem with it and thought his character could become a "poster boy for some gay movement", in the way that DeGeneres became a spokesperson with her character.^[36] Sean Hayes was invited to audition for Jack after an NBC casting executive saw him in a role in the indie gay romance film Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss. Even though Hayes enjoyed the script when he read it, he threw it away and decided not to try out for the audition until he was sent the script again.^[37] Megan Mullally initially auditioned for the role of Grace Adler, but admitted that she did not want to audition for the part of Karen since it seemed too similar to Christine Baranski’s part on Cybill. Once Mullally got the role, she was able to put her own spin on the character and add some fun quirks to Karen.^[38] By contrast, Debra Messing, with whom Mullally had first worked on Ned and Stacey, was initially unsure if she wanted to play the role of Grace.^[39] The last actor to be cast, she later admitted that director Burrows was the reason for doing Will & Grace.^[34] The production team once admitted that they got her to finally say yes once she was drunk at a party.

Revival

In January 2017, NBC closed a deal for a new 10-episode season of the series, which aired during the 2017–18 season. Hayes executive produced this season as well as creators/executive producers Max Mutchnick and David Kohan. Veteran director James Burrows is on board to direct and executive produce.^[40] In April 2017, the episode order was increased to 12 episodes. In August 2017, it was extended again to 16 episodes, and a 13-episode tenth season was ordered.^[41] The revival was filmed at Stage 22 at Universal Studios Hollywood, as opposed to Stage 17 at CBS Studio Center. In March 2018, NBC ordered five more episodes for the revival's second season, bringing the total to 18 episodes, and it was also renewed for an 18-episode third (eleventh) and final season.^[42]

Will & Grace: After Party

Logo for the aftershow

With the release of the ninth season of the series, NBC also released Will & Grace: After Party, an aftershow hosted by Kristin dos Santos. The guests of the aftershow are composed of cast and crew from the series, including David Kohan, Max Mutchnick, and the series' stars, to discuss the development and behind-the-scenes production of the series. The series premiered on NBC.com on September 29, 2017.^[43][44]

Critical response

The show has been criticized for not fully challenging stereotypes. "Battles and Hilton-Morrow (2002) analyse Will & Grace with regard to its dependence on traditional sitcom formulas and argue that the narratives diminish any of the show's potentially subversive themes...Kanner (2003) notes that the gayness of Will & Grace is normalized because the driving force of the show is their heterosexual friendship. Will's sexuality is assumed and incorporated into the show mostly as comic source and rarely as driving narrative."^[51]

The show garnered a fair amount of criticism and negative reviews upon its debut in 1998, most of which compared the show to the recently canceled ABC sitcom Ellen. One such review said, "If Will & Grace can somehow survive a brutal time period opposite football and Ally McBeal, it could grow into a reasonably entertaining little anomaly—that is, a series about a man and a woman who have no sexual interest in one another. But don't bet on it. If it's doomed relationships viewers want, they'll probably opt for Ally."^[52] As popular as the show came to be, particularly among gay viewers, Will & Grace continuously dealt with criticism for having a limited view of the gay community and for reinforcing stereotypes when some felt it should have torn them down.^[53]

The series finale was heavily promoted by NBC, and McCormack, Messing, Mullally and Hayes appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Today Show to bid farewell, on May 10 and 18, respectively. NBC devoted a two-hour block in its primetime schedule on May 18, 2006, for the Will & Grace send-off. An hour-long series retrospective, "Say Goodnight, Gracie", featuring interviews with the cast, crew, and guest stars, preceded the hour-long series finale. Series creators and executive producers Kohan and Mutchnick, who had not served as writers since the season 4 finale, penned the script for "The Finale". Regarding the finale, Mutchnick stated, "We wrote about what you want to have happen with people you love... All the things that matter in life, they end up having."^[54]

The ninth season was met with generally positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has a rating of 86% based on 37 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Will & Grace reunites its ever-hilarious cast for a revival season that picks up right where the show left off 11 years ago—adding a fresh relevance and a series of stories that make sharply funny use of the passage of time."^[55] On Metacritic, the season has a weighted average score of 73 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[56]

Awards and nominations

Megan Mullally received two Primetime Emmy Awards for her portrayal of Karen

Will & Grace has been nominated for 83 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning 18 of them, including once for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2000. McCormack, Messing, Hayes, and Mullally each won at least one Emmy Award for their respective performances, becoming one of four live-action sitcoms, along with All in the Family, The Golden Girls and Schitt's Creek, where all the principal actors have won at least one Emmy Award. Mullally also won a second time for her performance in 2006, a year when Will & Grace was nominated for 10 Emmys for its final season. The year before, the show had garnered 15 nominations, tied with Desperate Housewives as the series receiving the most nominations. This was almost an all-time record; the two shows were second behind The Larry Sanders Show, with 16 nominations in 1996.

With three each, both Hayes and Mullally held the record of winning the most Screen Actors Guild Awards for the categories Best Performance by an Actor in a Comedy Series and Best Performance by an Actress in a Comedy Series, respectively, for their roles in Will & Grace; however, Tina Fey went on to tie with Mullally and Alec Baldwin went on to surpass Hayes, both for their roles on the series 30 Rock. Will & Grace has won several GLAAD Media Awards for its advocacy of the gay community. Despite 30 total nominations, Will & Grace never won a Golden Globe Award.

Ratings

The show debuted on Mondays beginning on September 21, 1998, and steadily gained in popularity, culminating when it moved to Thursday night as part of NBC's Must See TV line-up. The show ultimately became a highly rated television show in the United States, earning a top-twenty rating during four of its eight seasons, including one season at No. 9. From 2001 to 2005, Will & Grace was the highest-rated sitcom among adults aged 18–49. However, when the show lost Friends as its lead-in after the 2003–04 season, Will & Grace began shedding viewers and slipped out of the top 20 during its last two seasons.

"The Finale" drew over 18 million viewers,^[57][58] ranking No. 8 for the week, easily making it the most watched episode of seasons seven & eight. While the season eight finale is considered a ratings success, it is far from being the most watched episode of Will & Grace—that accolade remains with the season four episode "A Chorus Lie", which aired on February 7, 2002, and ranked No. 8 for the week. When the show was at the height of its popularity (seasons 3–5), ranking in the Top 10 was a common occurrence, but the finale's Top 10 rank was the only such rank for season 8 and the first such rank since the season 7 premiere "FYI: I Hurt, Too".

Although it had slipped down the overall rankings, Will & Grace ended its final, eleventh season as NBC's most watched comedy series.^[59]

Cultural impact

The series was the first prime-time television series on U.S. terrestrial television to star openly gay lead characters , making it the highest-profile presence of LGBT characters on U.S. broadcast television since Ellen's eponymous lead character's coming-out in the 1997 "Puppy Episode". It has also been heralded as responsible for opening the door to a string of gay-themed television programs, such as Queer as Folk, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and Boy Meets Boy.

In May 2012, during a Meet the Press interview with host David Gregory, then U.S. Vice President Joe Biden cited the series as an influence in American thinking regarding LGBT rights, saying, "I think Will & Grace did more to educate the American public than almost anything anybody has ever done. People fear that which is different. Now they're beginning to understand."^[90] In the same interview, Biden stated that he was "absolutely comfortable" with same-sex marriage, a statement which was followed on May 9 by President Barack Obama's speaking in favor of it.^[91] The day after Obama's statement, series co-creator Mutchnick later told CBS This Morning that Biden had spoken similar words at a private function which Mutchnick and his husband had attended two weeks prior to Biden's statement, although a White House official was cited by CBS This Morning's Bill Plante as asserting that the Meet the Press interview was not a "trial balloon" for the statement.^[92] Both Mutchnick and Kohan praised Biden's statement, but were critical of Obama's stance on marriage during the time between Biden's and Obama's statements.^[93]

In 2004, the cast of the show were listed in Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters.^[94] In 2012, The Washington Post ranked Will & Grace the ninth-best NBC comedy of all time.^[95]

In 2014, scripts, props, and set decor from Will & Grace were donated to the National Museum of American History, which is part of the Smithsonian.^[96]

In December 2023, Variety ranked Will & Grace #93 on its list of the 100 greatest TV shows of all time.^[97]

Karen: The Musical

It had been announced that Megan Mullally would be creating and starring in a new Broadway musical titled Karen: The Musical. This musical would have had Mullally reprising her role of Karen Walker. She stated in an interview that the show may also involve recurring guest star Leslie Jordan in his role as Beverley Leslie, with a story revolving around their rivalry.^[100]

According to Mullally, the project was cancelled due to the rights to the Karen character being withdrawn. Mullally stated to have already gained approval from the network, as well as having the Broadway production company Fox Theatricals, director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw and composer Jeff Blumenkrantz all lined up to participate in the production, before certain stakeholders in the Karen Walker character withdrew the rights for its use in the production.^[101]

Jack & Karen

There had been talk in 2008 that a spin-off was being developed by NBC titled Jack & Karen, featuring Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally reprising their roles. Hayes initially showed interest in the spin-off but was ultimately put off by the short-lived Friends spin-off, Joey. Furthermore, Mullally's new work schedule in the form of her talk show, which was canceled several months later, did not allow her to pursue the spin-off at the time.^[102]

#VoteHoney

On September 26, 2016, the main cast—McCormack, Messing, Hayes, and Mullally, plus Morrison in a cameo role—reunited for a 10-minute web special, urging Americans to vote in the 2016 presidential election.^[7] In the special – titled #VoteHoney – Karen, an avid Donald Trump supporter, tries to persuade Jack to vote for Trump, while Will and Grace, both avid Hillary Clinton supporters, try to persuade him to vote for Clinton. At the end, Will reveals that singer Katy Perry is a supporter of Clinton, which persuades Jack to vote for Clinton. The success of the special resulted in the series' revival in 2017.