The “Frasier” revival follows the titular character as he embarks on a new career at Harvard University, marking a significant departure from the previous iteration of the sitcom. However, Kelsey Grammer’s character would have had a different vocation if David Hyde Pierce agreed to play Niles again.
“For a long time, the idea was that Frasier and Niles were going to run a black-box theater, like how they bought that restaurant and brought it back to life [in Season 2 of the original series],” co-writer Joe Cristalli revealed to Vulture. “But it’s hard for Frasier and Niles to run the theater when you don’t have Niles, so we had to step back from that.”
For now, Niles fans will have to settle for storylines involving his son, David (Anders Keith), who’s a student at Harvard. The character is an important part of the revival series, and his presence means that his father is there in spirit.
