For eight seasons, Eric McCormack played the beloved character Will Truman on the still highly-adored NBC series Will & Grace. Similar to Friends, it is one of those sitcoms fans will forever cherish. Though, sometimes when a series is so successful it becomes difficult for viewers to separate the actor from the character, but it's important to remember they aren't those characters and they have moved onto different roles. For example, Eric McCormack isn't Will Truman anymore, which is something the actor made clear while talking with Bustle about Travelers, his new series now available on Netflix.
"I’m hoping they’re not thinking about [Will] as they’re watching Travelers," McCormack says. Admittedly, whenever you see McCormack, it's hard not to associate him with his Will & Grace character if you were a fan. That's exactly what some people might do when watching him on Travelers, where he plays both FBI Agent Grant MacLaren and a traveler from the future who ends up inhabiting MacLaren's body.
It's understandable why McCormack feels the way that he does, especially since this is a totally different role, Will Truman has nothing to do with it, and he hasn't played that character for a decade. He deserves the respect from his fans to enjoy him as someone else and also for them to recognize he is so much more than the one role.
Granted, as an openly gay lawyer, Will became a character many could identify with and still do. That has to be a great feeling for an actor to play someone so influential. McCormack realizes that and as he said about the series as a whole, "It’s a show we’re all incredibly proud of."
As much as he hopes fans will forget about Will while watching Travelers, McCormack certainly isn't dismissing the possibility of once again playing the character in a Will & Grace revival. As for whether one will happen, he says, "We don’t know if or when, but there is definitely a conversation about it. The four of us are game, but it’s a hard puzzle to put together."
McCormack, Debra Messing, Megan Mullally, and Sean Hayes haven't lost their touch as their characters, which was proven in the new Will & Grace scene they filmed about the 2016 election. It would be a shame if they weren't given the chance to produce similar material in some type of reboot. Here's hoping it actually happens.
Until then, be sure to catch McCormack in Travelers on Netflix, where you can watch all 12 episodes of Season 1.
