NBC has ordered a third 18-episode
season of Will & Grace.
According to Deadline Hollywood,
NBC announced the pick up during a Will & Grace panel at
PaleyFest.
NBC has also expanded the show's
upcoming second season, adding 5 additional episodes to a 13-episode
order. Executives picked up the show for a second season ahead of
its September debut.
The show's revival episode total now
stands at 52.
Debra Messing, Eric McCormack, Sean
Hayes and Megan Mullally reprised their roles as Will & Grace
returned to NBC in the fall to helm a new Must See TV lineup. The
show's creators, David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, and director James
Burrows are also returned.
Will & Grace's return has
been a commercial and critical success, becoming NBC's top rated
comedy series.
“As far as I’m concerned, we can’t
get enough of Will & Grace, and 23 more episodes is music
to my ears,” out
NBC chairman Robert Greenblatt said. “We’re eternally
grateful that Debra, Eric, Sean and Megan feel the same way and
wanted to keep this good thing going. I’m overwhelmed by the
euphoric response the new show has received from the press and the
audience, and my hat is off to the unrivaled writing team of Max
Mutchnick and David Kohan, as well as the brilliant directing of
Jimmy Burrows, for consistently delivering one of the best shows on
television.”
Talk of reviving the Emmy-winning
comedy began soon after the cast reunited for a 10-minute political
skit that went viral ahead of the 2016 election.
Will & Grace, which
premiered in 1998 and ended its run in 2006, was the first prime time
network sitcom to feature a gay lead in McCormack's uptight lawyer,
Will, and has been credited for helping advance the LGBT rights
movement. Former
Vice President Joe Biden in 2012 credited the series with helping
advance marriage equality.