Kelsey Grammer recently teased some “OG” castmembers popping up in the upcoming Paramount+ revival of his 1990s sitcom Frasier, but he’s disappointed that his former Cheers co-star, Kirstie Alley, who died in December from stage 4 colon cancer, won’t be one of them.
Alley never appeared in Frasier‘s original run, but played Rebecca in Cheers, the series in which he was first introduced as Frasier Crane.
The 67-year-old actor tells Entertainment Tonight that he “would’ve loved” for Alley’s Rebecca character appear in the new Frasier.
“I was talking with the writers at one point and we’re casting one of the characters who could arguably be similar to Rebecca, and I said, ‘Boy, we need to find a girl much like Kirstie, who had a gift like Kirstie,” Grammer recalls. “She was so funny and so wonderful on Cheers. Really great gal.”
The Frasier reboot, which began filming in Los Angeles earlier this month “follows Frasier Crane…in the next chapter of his life as he returns to Boston, Mass., with new challenges to face, new relationships to forge and an old dream or two to finally fulfill,” per Paramount+.
While Grammer is currently the only returning original cast member, he assures ET that “the OGs are going to be present” at some point.