Debra Messing is defending the Will & Grace revival
Debra Messing has defended the revival of Will & Grace ahead of filming after some fans expressed concern.
The actor, who rose to fame after starring in the sitcom which was one of the first to feature an openly gay character, insisted that the revival would live up to expectations.
Some fans feared the show would not be able to keep up with more recent LGBT progressive series including Orange is the New Black and Transparent.
“It’s a whole new world now where being gay and lesbian is not something that people are hiding like they did when we started almost 20 years ago,” Messing told The Huffington Post.
“I think that there’s an opportunity to now celebrate all the other initials of LGBTQ. It will be great to come out of this next round and feel like we’re normalizing an even larger segment of underrepresented people on prime-time television.”
Other fans were concerned that Will and Jack, played by Eric McCromack and Sean Hayes respectively, would fall into the stereotype of “straight-acting” and that their characters would not be developed enough.
Messing added that there had been a huge change in cultural attitudes since the show was taken off air, but that they would still fight to be champions of LGBT causes.
She said: “I feel proud that we were able to finally represent the gay and lesbian community in mainstream media and change minds and hearts.
“Of course, we couldn’t do everything all at once, but I think we pushed the ball very, very far down the field. Now, the goal post is in a different place and I think that there’s obviously more to go.”
The actor added that the show was hyper-aware about the current political state in America and that they would work to still “push the envelope, take chances and be a little bit outrageous.”
“It’s a scary and confusing time in our country and we just felt like we wanted to make other people laugh right now,” she added.
