Frasier is returning for his sophomore season and going back to its roots. The sitcom reboot will return to Seattle, the setting of the original series, for an episode in Season 2.
Frasier Crane will interact with a few different actors from the original series as well. Both Dan Butler is returning as Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe and Edward Hibbert as Gil Chesterton for the episode. Likewise, Harriet Sansom Harris will portray Frasier's agent Bebe Glazer. All three appeared in the original series.
"Dan Butler and Edward Hibbert have made an indelible contribution to television, and I am overjoyed to welcome them back to Frasier and for the opportunity to work together once again," star and producer Kelsey Grammer said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Peri Gilpin is also coming back as Roz Doyle for Season 2 as well. "It was fun to revisit and felt really good. I wasn't expecting it not to be, but I really was surprised at how great it felt to be there again," Gilpin previously told TheWrap. "I genuinely love this character. So I would love to do it [again]. It just depends on what happens next."
However, fans will be sad that neither Niles nor Daphne are coming back for Season 2. It's disappointing, especially given the Seattle setting. David Hyde Pierce has been on the fence about coming back. He said he would rather leave it in the past.
'Frasier' Won't Bring Back Niles
"I never really wanted to go back. 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 said during an interview with the Los Angeles Times. "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."
"When we got into real talks about the reboot, I had just started on the 'Julia' TV show and was working' on a musical and going to do another musical, not this one. And I just thought, 'I don't want to be committed to a show and not be able to do stuff like this," Pierce explained."
Meanwhile, showrunner Chris Harris said the lack of Niles informed the show in creative ways.
"It let us build the show more organically from the ground up, focusing more on Frasier and Freddie's relationship," Chris Harris told TheWrap. "The flip side of that is we don't have several of the beloved characters that the original series had."
However, he said he would been down for Pierce to return.
"Of course, Chris and I would have come up with something to evolve the character, make him fun and we'd love to still do that. But from his point of view, he felt like he wouldn't add to this new version of Frasier and his son," Harris continued. "He very understandably felt like he didn't want to do that again, and he was in a tough place because everybody wants him to do it again. Writing Niles and Frasier banter is very, very fun. But the fact that he did step aside and allowed us to open up with a blank slate, and give room for all these new characters to grow."
