David Hyde Pierce explains why he’s not in the Frasier reboot: ‘I never really wanted to go back’
The actor who memorably played Niles Crane now stars as Paul Child on “Julia” and takes the stage in Stephen Sondheim’s last musical.
Frasier has returned to TV, but aside from Kelsey Grammer’s eponymous character, the newly rebooted series looks rather different from the original sitcom that ran from 1993 to 2004. It’s missing major supporting cast members like John Mahoney, who played Frasier Crane’s father, Martin, but died in 2018, and David Hyde Pierce, who played brother Niles Crane and remains alive and well.
In a new interview with the L.A. Times, Pierce said that he was simply too busy with other projects to be part of the new incarnation of Frasier.
“I never really wanted to go back,” the actor said. “It’s not like I said, ‘Oh, I don’t ever want to do that again.” I loved every moment. It was that I wanted to do other things.”
Pierce’s current projects include portraying helpful husband Paul Child on the Max series Julia, which stars Sarah Lancashire as the iconic American cookbook author Julia Child. He’s also got a strong supporting role in Here We Are, the new theater piece that contains the last music written by legendary composer Stephen Sondheim before his death in 2021.
“When we got into real talks about the [Fraiser] reboot, I had just started on the Julia TV show and was working on a musical and going to do another musical,” Pierce said. “And I just thought, ‘I don’t want to be committed to a show and not be able to do stuff like this.’ And I also thought, ‘They don’t actually need me.’ 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.”
The supporting cast of the new Frasier includes Jack Cutmore-Scott as Frasier’s son, Freddy Crane; Toks Olagundoye as Harvard psychology Professor Olivia Finch; and Anders Keith as David Crane. As the son of Niles and Daphne (Jane Leeves), Keith is keeping Pierce’s Frasier legacy alive.
