Frasier reboot 2023: release date rumours and cast with Kelsey Grammer, Nicholas Lyndhurst, and Peri Gilpin

After many years teasing the possibility, Kelsey Grammer is finally developing a Frasier sequel (not a reboot).

The series, which is going to air on Paramount+ and will co-star Nicholas Lyndhurst, will follow Frasier back to Boston and chart the next stage of the character’s life.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Frasier revival ahead of its release later this year.

What is it about?

At the moment, the official synopsis for the new Frasier is fairly light on detail, revealing only that “Frasier is off to a different city with new challenges to face, new relationships to forge, and an old dream or two to finally fulfill. Frasier has re-entered the building!”

Speaking about Nicholas Lyndhurst’s new character, though, Kelsey Grammer revealed a little about where the series finds Frasier. “It suddenly occurred to me when we were putting the show together, we’ve never really seen Frasier in a relationship where he has a great friend,” explained Grammer to BBC Radio Bristol. (Can you imagine Frasier with a group of friends? Going to a bar, perhaps, where everybody knows his name? No, us neither.)

“He had Niles, of course, but he was his brother […] this real friendship thing is something we’ve not seen Frasier in,” continued Grammer. “So we’re discovering a man who is still discovering himself, and that is what I find interesting to play.”

Given that so many characters seem to be based at colleges - Nicholas Lyndhurst is playing a professor, and Frasier’s son and his college roommate are both key characters - it seems like a reasonable guess that Frasier will be working as a professor himself, with the character leaving broadcast radio and moving into academia.

Who stars in the new Frasier – will any of the original cast return?

Kelsey Grammer will play Dr. Frasier Crane once again, making this the third show to feature Frasier as a lead. (Frasier did also crossover to a show called Wings once, but that was just a guest appearance.) Outside of Cheers and Frasier, you might recognise Grammer from things like Boss, The Simpsons, and Money Plane.

Nicholas Lyndhurst will play Professor Alan Cornwall, described as a boozey British academic and an old friend of Frasier’s. Best known for appearing in a sitcom about the relationship between two neurotic brothers, Lyndhurst previously starred with Grammer in a stage production of Man of La Mancha in 2019.

Jack Cutmore-Scott will play Freddy Crane, Frasier’s now grown-up son. Cutmore-Scott is best-known for starring in the crime procedural Deception, though he’s also appeared in a supporting capacity in Magnum PI, Hawaii 5-0, and Tenet. Jess Salgueiro (Y: The Last Man, The Boys), meanwhile, will play new character Eve, Freddy’s college roommate.

Anders Keith will play David Crane, Niles and Daphne’s now grown-up son and Frasier’s nephew. David - described as “an awkward college freshman with a penchant for off-kilter observations. Frasier’s nephew David has Niles’ intelligence, Daphne’s smile, and neither of their polish” - is Anders Keith’s first screen role.

In March 2023, it was announced that Bebe Neuwirth would be reprising the role of Frasier’s wife Lilith Sternin. Neuwirth - who played Lilith in both Cheers and Frasier - will appear in a handful of episodes of the new series, frustrated at having to share son Freddy with a back in Boston Frasier. It was later confirmed that Peri Gilpin, who played Frasier's producer Roz Doyle, would also appear in the series in a recurring capacity.

Beyond them, though, we don’t know a huge amount about the rest of the cast, new or old. Last year, David Hyde Pierce made clear he wouldn’t be returning regularly as Niles – though he did suggest he would potentially be open to a guest appearance. Perhaps more plausible, though - especially with the news that the Frasier revival will see the character return to Boston - is that the series might feature some of the cast of Cheers.

Who is writing and directing the new series?

Chris Harris (How I Met Your Mother, Acapulco) and Joe Cristalli (Life in Pieces, Hulu’s Maggie) will be the lead writers on the new series of Frasier. Notably, the pair previously ran a twitter account together that imagined scenes from a modern-day Frasier update.

James Burrows - one of the creators of Cheers - will direct the first two episodes of the new Frasier. Burrows is a genuinely prolific director, having helmed episodes of more or less every major US sitcom since The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1974; back in 2015, he recieved a special commemoration for directing 1000 episodes of television.

Is there a trailer?

Not quite yet! As soon as one manifests, though, we’ll be sure to update this piece with the video. In the meantime, here’s the original Channel 4 trailer for Frasier, all the way back in 1993. (It starts about 40 seconds in, after the credits for the last episod of Cheers conclude.)

When will the new Frasier be released?

We don’t quite know yet, although we have a rough sense: in early January 2023, Kelsey Grammer revealed to BBC Radio Bristol that rehearsals were due to start in the next few weeks, and suggested it’d be possible the series might even be on air by July. Filming - live in front of a studio audience - officially began in Los Angeles in February 2023.

Whether that works out exactly to plan remains to be seen, but it certainly seems likely that the new Frasier will have arrived on our screens by the end of 2023.

How many episodes will there be?

There’s going to be 10 episodes in the new series of Frasier, which will presumably but not necessarily be around half an hour long each.

Where can I watch the original Frasier?

At time of writing, you can watch all 11 seasons of Frasier for free (with adverts) on All4. It's also available on Paramount+.

Why should I watch it?

Because Frasier’s original run is considered one of the greatest US sitcoms ever – as indeed is its parent show Cheers – so if this is even approaching the same level, it’ll be worth a look.