'Will & Grace' Holiday Special Time Travels to 20th Century New York
"Will & Grace" unleashes a special holiday-themed episode this December. The extravaganza brings the characters back in time to 20th century New York.
The special episode, titled "A Gay Olde Christmas," has the cast donning period costumes and new names. Eric McCormack and Debra Messing will play the Van Williams couple Billem and Fanny. Sean Hayes is John Patrick McGee, while Megan Mullally plays Karolyn O'Malley, who is the opposite of her posh original character Karen.
McCormack and Hayes still play gay men in this imagined "Will & Grace" world. The 1921 setting, however, presents challenges for Billem and John Patrick because the world is still not accepting of diversity. Recurring guest star Leslie Jordan is also in this special episode.
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This installment also goes all out with the production design and set decorations. The Van Williams' home, for example, retains the original structure of Will's apartment but it's slightly altered and decked with elaborate Victorian antique design elements.
The other set features a tenement house for John Patrick and Karolyn. The set design team painstakingly want everything to be historically accurate.
"We are stepping back in time to the Victorian era," the show's production designer Glenda Rovello stated. "[We] get to see what it was like for characters such as ours."
The "Will & Grace" holiday special will air on Tuesday, Dec. 5, at 9:00 p.m. on NBC. The show is actually on hiatus since Nov. 11 and new episodes won't air until after the Winter Olympics in March 2018 pending a confirmed return date from NBC.
Meanwhile, Molly Shannon will join the cast of "Will & Grace" when it's back for its midseason run. The actress will reprise her role as Val Bassett, who first appeared in the series in 1999.
Val became Will's replacement best friend when Grace got too busy with work. The character recurred in at least five episodes in the show's original run.
