In a recent interview, out actor Sean
Hayes talked about the return of Will & Grace.
Will & Grace returned
Thursday for its ninth season, 11 years after it ended its 8-season
run on NBC. The show, which premiered in 1998, was the first prime
time network sitcom to feature a gay lead in Eric McCormack's uptight
lawyer Will Truman and has been credited for helping advance the LGBT
rights movement.
Hayes, who came out publicly after the
show ended, told gay glossy Out that he's excited about the
show's return.
“I'm excited, personally, to be
around my friends and be laughing everyday,” Hayes said. “But
I'm also excited about giving the fans what they seem to want, which
is really, really great stories that dig even deeper into these
characters' lives.”
Hayes, who plays Will's best friend
Jack McFarland on the show, said that his character is the “most
unchanged, in the best way” since Will & Grace ended,
giving the example that Jack is teaching a new acting technique he
trademarked called “Jackting.”
The 47-year-old actor added that the
show's premise remains the same.
“The show has always been a wonderful
mirror to society, so it is the same as it was,” Hayes
said. “It always explored storylines that had to do with
society in the current state it was in and it still does that. It
still comments on pop culture, politics, sex, religion, anything
that’s under the umbrella of relevancy.”