The NBC sitcom Will & Grace almost had a fifth cast member

It seems like Party of Five isn’t just the name of a 90s drama but could’ve been the alternate title for the 90s sitcom Will and Grace. The timeless NBC sitcom has been brought back into the news cycle and no, it’s not another rebooted season of the show. It was revealed that the quartet made up of characters lawyer Will Truman, interior designer Grace Adler, socialite Karen Walker, and actor Jack McFarland we all know and love, might’ve been a five-some.

The actor who portrays Will, Eric McCormack said that, originally, there were supposed to be five characters in the show,

"“There were five characters as regulars,” McCormack said. “And the fifth was my partner at my small law firm.”"

The character was intended to be a “straight guy” who was likely “written as Jewish” and played just as important a role as anyone else in the group. This was confirmed by McCormack.

The fifth member was to be played by actor Cress Williams. Though, two days into shooting, McCormack said that director James Burrows went to his team to say, “It’s too many. It’s one finger too many,” which led to them cutting Cress’ character.

McCormack expressed his appreciation for Williams craft while mentioning that it was just a matter of the story that the director and producers decided to move forward with.

"“I felt so terrible,” McCormack said. “It was nothing he did or didn’t do… It just didn’t fit what the show is supposed to be.”"

Though he didn’t join the cast, Williams has gone on to have an impressive career as he went on to star in major CW shows including Hart of Dixie and most recently, Black Lightning. Williams also had a recurring role on the hit FOX sitcom, Living Single.

This isn’t the first bit of post-series revelations to have occurred either. According to Insider, McCormack admitted that he almost turned the leading role of Will down. McCormack said he had doubts about the show but told said Will & Grace co-creator Max Mutchnick called him and told him was making the “biggest mistake.” While under-the-radar decisions being made about casting and storylines before a show premieres is far from out-of-the-ordinary. It is interesting to see what the impact of this series might’ve been had the relationship dynamics shifted to accommodate a bigger cast.

What do you think?  Do these cast-related revelations surprise you? Let us know in the comments. Keep up to date with Culturess for more celebrity news and coverage.