David Hyde Pierce is speaking out about why he’s not in the Frasier reboot, telling the Los Angeles Times that he “never really wanted to go back” to playing Kelsey Grammer’s younger brother on the beloved sitcom.
“It’s not like I said, ‘Oh, I don’t ever want to do that again,’” Pierce clarified to the Times. “I loved every moment. It was that I wanted to do other things.”
Ever since the reboot premiered on Paramount+ in October, fans have mourned the disappearance of Frasier’s baby brother, whose neurotic displays always matched (or exceeded) the titular character’s own. When the reboot started ramping up, however, the prospect of returning became less abstract for Pierce. At that point, he said, scheduling helped make the decision for him.
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“I had just started on the Julia TV show and was working on a musical and going to do another musical,” the actor said. “...And I just thought, ‘I don’t want to be committed to a show and not be able to do stuff like this.’”
In Julia, Sarah Lancashire plays the eponymous chef, Julia Child, while Pierce plays her husband, Paul. The Max series follows Child after she released Mastering the Art of French Cooking—the cookbook that helped launch her to stardom—while she and Paul continue to negotiate their evolving marriage. When the Times caught up with Pierce, he was also preparing for the premiere of the musical Here We Are—Stephen Sondheim’s final work.
Beyond his personal reasons for not rejoining Frasier, Pierce also noted that the reboot—which follows Grammer’s character as he returns to Boston—seems to be doing just fine without him.
“I also thought, ‘They don’t actually need me,’” Pierce told the Times. “Frasier has moved on to a new world. They have new characters. And I think I’m right. It’s doing great. And the new people they have are great.”
Great as everything might be, something tells us that fans would never pass up the chance to spend more time with Niles. At least we’ll always have the memes.
