‘Will & Grace’ Revival: Harry Connick Jr. Is Back As Leo—But What Is He Doing There?
The Will & Grace revival is set to welcome another familiar face. Eleven years after the original series signed off, Harry Connick Jr. is back as Grace’s (Debra Messing) ex-husband, Leo. But what is her estranged ex doing there?
TV Line posted a sneak peek at the episode titled “Emergency Contact” (you can see the clip below), which shows a hospitalized Grace coming out of anesthesia to find that her ex-husband Leo is still listed as her emergency contact. While Grace at first blamed the Leo sighting on the anesthesia, it turned out the sedation wasn’t all that heavy and that really was her cheatin’ ex standing there. It didn’t take long for Grace to tell the nurse in the room that Leo was the one who cheated, paving the way for his half-baked explanation as to what went wrong in their marriage.
Of course, Will & Grace fans are thrilled to have Harry Connick Jr. back for the reboot to reprise his role as Leo. The actor-singer’s return to the show was teased by Entertainment Weekly over the summer after Messing posted an Instagram selfie with Connick, telling fans “he’s backkkkkkkkkkkk!”
“That southern gentleman that stole all of our hearts— @harryconnickjr,” the Will & Grace star wrote. “There will never be another Leo.”
While Will & Grace fans are happy to see Harry in the reboot, the actor told Us Weekly the whole experience was surreal, mostly because everything remained unchanged more than a decade later.
“To be totally honest, aside from the fact that it was incredible, it was one of the weirdest experiences of my life,” Connick Jr. told Us about returning to the Will & Grace on set. “Because everything is exactly the same. The watercooler is in the same place, the desk is in the same place, same people. It’s just everyone is 10 or 11 years older, so it was really a wild experience.”
The original incarnation of Will & Grace ran for eight seasons on NBC, from 1998-2006, and ended with a remarried Grace and Leo raising a daughter, Laila, and her bestie Will (Eric McCormack) sharing a son, Ben, with husband Vincent (Bobby Cannavale). But in the flash forward finale scene, viewers were given the bombshell that the former besties hadn’t spoken in 20 years after a falling out. Thankfully, the reboot ignored the series finale and picked up with a still-single Will and Grace both childless and still living as roommates in their New York City apartment.
You can see Harry Connick Jr.’s return to Will & Grace in the video below.
Will & Grace airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.
[Featured Image by Chris Haston/NBC]
