The Frasier revival has brought back stars from the original series in each of its seasons (the second is currently airing), but Wendie Malick doesn’t see herself as being one of them in the future.
Malick had a recurring guest-star role as Ronee Lawrence in the original Frasier. Ronee used to be Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) and Niles’ (David Hyde Pierce) babysitter, and she struck up a romance later in life with Frasier and Niles’ dad, Martin Crane, played by the late John Mahoney, who died in 2018. The characters ended up getting married in the Frasier series finale that aired in 2004, regarded as one of the show’s best episodes and one of the best sitcom finales ever.
TV Insider connected with Malick, who can currently be seen in the second season of Shrinking on Apple TV+, and the sitcom legend tells us that without Mahoney, it doesn’t “feel right” to play Ronee in the Paramount+ comedy.
“It’s sort of like when people ask me about Just Shoot Me. Without George Segal, I just don’t think it would feel right,” Malick explains (Segal died in 2021).
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“I had such a connection to John Mahoney playing his love interest and finally marrying him that I’m not sure that I want to revisit that,” Malick goes on. “That was something that was such a lovely ride, and that season was so much fun and I was honored to be part of it. And sometimes I think you feel like you took your character as far as you could, and then maybe you just leave it and savor those memories.”
“Never say never, but that’s my gut feeling,” she adds.
Mahoney died in 2018 at the age of 77. After Frasier, he reunited with Malick on the sitcom Hot in Cleveland. The Frasier revival’s series premiere, which debuted in October 2023, paid tribute to their late costar by naming the show’s bar Mahoney’s. When discussing this decision with TV Insider, Grammer teared up and said, “Yeah, we wanted him in there. Forever.”
Malick will soon be seen as a series regular in Night Court Season 3 following her guest-star appearances in previous seasons. That revival returns on November 19 on NBC.
Frasier, Thursdays, Paramount+
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