James Van Der Beek was forced to bow out of the Dawson’s Creek reunion charity event at the last minute due to health issues — but that didn’t stop him from making a surprise virtual appearance.
The 48-year-old actor, who last year announced his Stage 3 colorectal cancer diagnosis, was originally scheduled to join his castmates for a special reading of the pilot episode Monday night in New York City.
But the day before the event, he posted to Instagram, sharing that he would not be able to attend because “two stomach viruses conspired to knock me out of commission.”
“Despite every effort… I won’t get to be there. I won’t get to stand on that stage and thank every soul in the theater for showing up for me, and against cancer, when I needed it most,” he wrote, revealing his titular character of Dawson would instead be read by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Still, in spite of his illness, Van Der Beek made a special appearance in a pre-recorded clip that played on the screen.
In the video, he introduced his replacement, Hamilton star and creator Miranda, and thanked fans for buying tickets to the event, which was put together by Michelle Williams in support of Van Der Beek, amid his cancer diagnosis.
Despite Van Der Beek’s absence, his wife, Kimberly, and their six children flew out to New York City to attend, explaining on Instagram that it “was important to him we come!!”
The evening saw the original cast, including Williams, Katie Holmes, Busy Philipps, Joshua Jackson, Mary Beth Peil, John Wesley Shipp, Mary-Margaret Humes, Nina Repeta, Kerr Smith, and Meredith Monroe, reunite on stage at the Richard Rodgers Theatre to perform a live reading of the show’s 1998 debut episode to raise money for the F Cancer charity and Van Der Beek.
Jason Moore, who directed several episodes of the show, returned to direct the event, which he co-produced with series creator Kevin Williamson.
Van Der Beek played protagonist Dawson Leery on the six-season drama, which ran from 1998 to 2003. Williams played his love interest, Jen Lindley, Holmes played Joey Potter, while Jackson played Pacey Witter.
During an interview on the Today show earlier this year, Van Der Beek opened up about living with stage 3 colorectal cancer.
Noting that he was “feeling great,” he described how cancer has “been a journey” for him.
“There are just so many ups and downs, and so many unknowns,” he said. “Cancer, I call it a full-time job.”
