Whereas James Van Der Beek couldn’t be at Monday’s (September 22) Dawson’s Creek reunion profit in individual, he made a shock digital look to thank followers and announce his substitute.
In keeping with Folks, the actor, who performed the titular Dawson Leery on the favored WB teen drama, appeared in a pre-recorded video that was projected onstage on the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York Metropolis, the place the unique forged gathered for a stay studying of the present’s pilot script.
“I’ve been wanting ahead to this night time for months and months ever since my angel Michelle Williams stated she was placing it collectively,” Van Der Beek stated within the video, per Folks. “I can’t imagine I’m not there. I can’t imagine I don’t get to see my forged mates, my lovely forged in individual.”
On Sunday night (September 21), Van Der Beek took to Instagram to announce he wouldn’t have the ability to attend the occasion attributable to “two abdomen viruses” knocking him “out of fee.”
“Regardless of each effort… I gained’t get to be there,” he added. “I gained’t get to face on that stage and thank each soul within the theater for displaying up for me, and towards most cancers, after I wanted it most.”
James Van Der Beek’s surprising digital look on the Dawson’s Creek reunion on September 22, regardless of battling abdomen viruses and stage 3 colorectal most cancers, highlighted his deep appreciation for followers and castmates amid private challenges. pic.twitter.com/JqPwTUDweI
— unumihai Media (@unumihaimedia) September 23, 2025
Van Der Beek revealed his colorectal most cancers prognosis again in November 2024. On the time, he instructed Folks, “I’ve been privately coping with this prognosis and have been taking steps to resolve it, with the assist of my unimaginable household.”
Within the video, Van Der Beek stated he wished to “thank each single individual within the theater for being right here tonight. From the forged to the crew to all people who’s doing something and has been so beneficiant, and particularly each single final certainly one of you – you’re the greatest followers on this planet.”
He then launched his “understudy,” Hamilton star Lin-Manuel Miranda, whom he joked his children would think about an “improve.”
Van Der Beek’s spouse, Kimberly, and the couple’s kids attended the occasion, with Kimberly writing on Instagram, “[It] was essential to him we come!!”
Kimberly and the kids joined the forged onstage to sing Paula Cole’s “I Don’t Need To Wait,” the present’s theme tune, at Monday’s occasion.
The “Dawson’s Creek” forged and James Van Der Beek’s kids sing “I Don’t Wanna Wait.” pic.twitter.com/Edkgsa0UeF
— Selection (@Selection) September 23, 2025
Those that took half within the stay studying included authentic Dawson’s Creek stars Michelle Williams, Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson, Mary Beth Peil, John Wesley Shipp, Mary-Margaret Humes, Nina Repeta, Kerr Smith, Meredith Monroe, and Busy Philipps. Proceeds from the occasion will profit F Most cancers and Van Der Beek.