The entertainment industry eats up nostalgia, so one would think that one of the most iconic teen shows of the late ’90s would be prime for the reboot treatment. Dawson’s Creek premiered in the wake of Kevin Williamson, changed the teen movie market with the release of Scream, and he brought those sensibilities to The WB to craft a coming-of-age teen drama. The series struck a chord and ran for six successful seasons while making stars of its primary cast. One of those cast members, Katie Holmes, was recently asked about a potential Dawson’s Creek reboot, and she revealed when she thinks it would be a bad idea to do one.
During a chat with Screen Rant, Katie Holmes was asked about a reboot and return to the fictional town of Capeside and while she’s appreciative of what the show did for her career, she doesn’t think a reboot would work because the series was very much of its time. Holmes said, “We’ve definitely talked about it over the years, but I feel like that show captured that time period and that time in all of our lives.”
Katie Holmes isn’t wrong with her assessment. Dawson’s Creek aired from 1998-2003 and followed the lives of a naive wannabe filmmaker named Dawson Leery (James Van Der Beek), his best friend Joey Potter (Holmes), who has been secretly in love with him since childhood, close friend and misunderstood Pacey Witter (Joshua Jackson), and the new girl next door with a past Jen Lindley (Michelle Williams). They suffered through all the teen angst and growing pains of adolescence while spouting off Kevin Williamson-penned monologues that made most critics say they talked too intelligent to be teenagers. That insulted many of us growing up because some of us finally felt a show was writing to young adults that reflected who we were. Many of us were wise beyond our years (or thought we were), and we were acutely self-aware, which is how Williamson wrote the characters. Even though the show was singled out for having teens talk about taboo topics, the series was VERY tame in retrospect, and there is something about it that feels like a moment in time during the late ’90s that would be hard to replicate. It captured the innocence of that era that allowed that story to be told in the right way, and I agree with Holmes that a reboot would find it hard to capture that lightning in a bottle again.
Katie Holmes also questioned if fans would want to see those characters as full-grown adults. Holmes, who is now 43, said, “I think it’s great that you are nostalgic for it. So am I. But it’s like, do we want to see them not at that age? We all decided we don’t [want a reboot] actually,” speaking about her co-stars Williams, 41, Van Der Beek, 45, and Jackson, 44. It should also be noted that Dawson’s Creek aired during a time with no social media and not all this rampant attention on what its teen leads were doing. They shot in Wilmington, North Carolina. They didn’t engage in the Los Angeles temptations that lure in most young stars. The show and everything about when it was made just screams innocence.
Everything doesn’t need to be rebooted. Dawson’s Creek is there on Hulu in all of its six-season glory to revisit for nostalgia purposes. I don’t need a fresh take on this story. If I want to be reminded of the teen TV and film surge of the late ’90s, I know exactly where to go and what familiar Paula Cole tune will introduce me to every single episode.
Do YOU think Dawson’s Creek should be rebooted, or think it’s better left alone like Katie Holmes does?