Minnie Driver Returns to Will & Grace Revival: 'It Felt Like a Dream' to Be Reunited with Cast
Will & Grace fans, Minnie Driver is back!
The actress, who made six appearances as Karen’s (played by Megan Mullally) nemesis Lorraine Finster during the NBC sitcom’s original run, will be making a guest appearance in next week’s episode.
“[The experience] was wonderful,” Driver, 47, exclusively tells PEOPLE. “It was like I had left them all in the same place and I came back and found them all in the same place! It was very familiar and amazing. It was the exact same crew — everyone from hair and makeup to wardrobe. It’s such a family. It was absolutely amazing to be reunited with everyone. It felt like a dream.”
Driver’s character was introduced in Season 5 in 2003 as the mistress of Karen’s then-husband Stanley Walker. Seeking revenge on Lorraine, Karen ended up marrying Lorraine’s father, Lyle.
“I laugh all the time Megan Mullally,” she says. “She makes me laugh so much. Maybe it’s because of the nature of our relationship on the show, it just makes me die laughing. The original series that I was in, I just remember laughing from the moment I got there until the moment I left. It was so fun! It’s exactly as fun as it looks. The amount of love and laughter on on that show is not fabricated. It’s for realsies.”
She adds,”My friendship with all of them has lasted since I did the show. I’m so grateful for that. They are such good people.”
The original NBC sitcom, which ran for eight seasons from 1998-2006, concluded with a remarried Grace (Debra Messing) and Leo (Harry Connick Jr.) raising a daughter, Laila, while Will (Eric McCormack) shared son Ben with spouse Vincent (Bobby Cannavale).
However, the reboot chose to ignore the series finale, picking back up with Will and Grace single, childless and still living in their famous New York City apartment.
“We spent most of our time trying to figure out what would be the way to make the show the best version of itself coming back after 11 years,” executive producer/creator Max Mutchnick told Entertainment Weekly in August. “That finale really caused us a lot of grief. You write a finale because a show is over. You never think that it’s coming back again.”
“When the decision was made to bring the series back, we were like, well, we left them with kids, right?” added executive producer/creator David Kohan. “And if they have children, then it has to be about them being parents, ‘cause presumably it would be a priority in their lives. And if it wasn’t a priority in their lives, then they’re still parents, they’re just bad parents, right? We frankly did not want to see them being either good parents or bad parents. We wanted them to be Will and Grace.”
Will & Grace airs Thursdays (9 p.m. ET) on NBC.