Dawson’s Creek ended in 2003, and for more than two decades fans have been wanting a reunion — but what did the cast think?

OG stars James Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson and Michelle Williams have hinted at the possibility for years, but it wasn’t until August 2025 that the cast announced that an official reunion is happening.

The actors, who played teens navigating love, high school and their own personal growth for six seasons, are doing a one-night event in New York City on September 22. The long-awaited reunion will include a live reading of the WB pilot to raise money for the F Cancer charity and Van Der Beek, who was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer in 2024.

As fans gear up for the monumental event, Us Weekly is looking back at everything the cast has said — and every clue they left — about reuniting over the years.

James Van Der Beek

“I’ve gotten in touch with them recently and it’s just been so nice,” Van Der Beek, who played Dawson Leery, said of his costars during a March 2025 episode of the “Whine Down” podcast.

He didn’t say why they got back in touch, but shared, “It’s just been so great to talk to them and catch up with, like, who they are now this many years out and to have that shared experience from back in the day. It’s just so lovely every time I get to catch up with one of them.”

Katie Holmes

Holmes, who played Dawson’s BFF and eventual love interest Joey Potter, has not directly spoken about a Dawson’s Creek reunion, but she shut down the idea of a reboot in July 2022. “We’ve definitely talked about it over the years,” she told Screen Rant at the time. “But I feel like that show captured that time period and that time in all of our lives.”

Holmes, however, will be part of the in-person reunion in September. She has also recently reconnected with Jackson to film the upcoming trilogy, Happy Hours.

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Joshua Jackson

Jackson, who played Pacey Witter, revealed in September 2021 that he didn’t think a Dawson’s Creek reunion in the same format as that year’s Friends reunion on HBO was feasible. (In the Friends reunion, the cast got together to talk about the show, relive scenes and give updates on their lives.)

“I think because the Friends cast were already adults when they were doing the show, it’s less jarring to see them now,” Jackson told The Guardian. “If you put our mid-40s selves together on a couch now, with our creaking backs, it might shock people.”

He teased, “Nobody needs to hear Pacey grunting when he gets out of a chair.”

Michelle Williams

“We grew up in Capeside and that’s a bond that will last a lifetime,” Williams said in an August 2025 statement about the WB reunion. “We wanted to gather around our dear friend James and remind him that we are all here. We always have been and we always will be. And I know the fans of Dawson’s Creek feel the same way.”

Busy Philipps

“We’re really trying to figure something out, but there are a couple of people who have some work things that cannot be moved,” Philipps, who played Audrey Liddell, exclusively told Us Weekly in March 2025 of getting the gang back together. “It’s like playing chess, trying to get everybody’s schedules to align. I’m very hopeful that at some point we will.”

She explained, “Everybody is, and I’m so glad to see and hear from James — and I know he posted on Instagram that he’s feeling well — and we just have all been really sending him every ounce of good wishes and prayers and hoping for the best.”

Philipps later exclusively told Us in May 2025, “Everybody loves Dawson’s Creek and I love it too,” noting it’s been nice to see fans “happy” that the cast has been spotted “hanging out” over the past year.

Kevin Williamson

The show’s creator confessed during the 2019 TV Critics Association summer press tour panel for Tell Me a Story that he was “dying to work with Josh Jackson again.” Williamson noted that his desire to reunite with the actor didn’t mean he was planning a reboot for Dawson’s Creek.

However, once the September reunion was announced, Williamson was bursting with excitement.

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“I am so excited to reunite with James, Michelle, Katie, Joshua, and our Dawson’s Creek family for such a special night. Dawson’s Creek changed my life,” Williamson said in an August 2025 statement. “What began as a personal story about a young man and his friends navigating their way through the challenges of life became so much more than I ever dreamed.”

He added, “It created an enduring fandom and legacy all over the world. I am so honored to be a part of it and to support our beautiful friend, James, as we continue to navigate our way through life and its many challenges.”

Mary-Margaret Humes

Humes, who played Dawson’s mom, Gail Leery, recalled feeling left out when part of the cast reunited for an Entertainment Weekly photo shoot in March 2018. She exclusively told Us in May 2019 that her TV husband, John Wesley Shipp, who portrayed Mitch Leery, wasn’t as irked.

“I did take it a little more personally [than John] because there was all this talk about a possible reunion.” Humes explained to Us. “Because I’d been doing all of this on Instagram, which I — just a couple months before, I felt like I was helping to make a reunion happen. Not a photo shoot but actually bring the show back by revisiting what it was like.”

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Humes noted that once she saw the EW cover, she posted via social media that she was upset to be excluded.

“I’m glad I spoke out, because Katie called me, James called me, Kerr [Smith] called me, Kevin texted me, Julie Plec texted me,” she recalled. “It reunited us, and now there is actual talk about, secret talk, like, ‘Maybe we should do this.’ So, fingers crossed. I don’t know anything more than anybody else, but there has been a group text going around saying, ‘Maybe it’s time.’”