The Frasier revival has seemingly been popular with Paramount+ subscription holders, enough for it to earn a second season. Once again starring Kelsey Grammer as psychiatrist Frasier Crane, the series sees him returning to Boston to rekindle his relationship with his son and take on a professorship at Harvard. While Grammer is joined by a new characters, some franchise OGs show up as well. Yet Wendie Malick has no plans to return for Season 2 on the 2024 TV schedule or any future season and there's a touching reason for that.
Wendie Malick joined the original Frasier during its 11th and final season as Frasier and Niles’ childhood babysitter, Ronee Lawrence. The character ultimately wound up becoming the girlfriend to the brothers' father, Martin, and the two ultimately tied the knot in the 2004 series finale. The Crane patriarch was played by the late John Mahoney, who died in 2018 due to complications from throat cancer. And Malick recently explained to TV Insider that her co-star's passing is a major reason why she's not keen on reprising Ronee:
It’s sort of like when people ask me about Just Shoot Me. Without George Segal, I just don’t think it would feel right. I had such a connection to John Mahoney playing his love interest and finally marrying him that I’m not sure that I want to revisit that. That was something that was such a lovely ride, and that season was so much fun and I was honored to be part of it. And sometimes I think you feel like you took your character as far as you could, and then maybe you just leave it and savor those memories. Never say never, but that’s my gut feeling.
That's certainly a heartwarming reason to not return to the franchise, and it definitely makes sense. While the Hot in Cleveland alum only appeared in 10 episodes of Frasier, but it’s clear that those 10 episodes were more than enough for her to form a connection with John Mahoney. I can understand that the veteran actress would have mixed feelings about returning to the show without her co-star in tow.
While the actor himself may be gone, his legacy lives on. Also, the revival did pay tribute to John Mahoney by having the new bar that Frasier hangs out at be called Mahoney’s. It's a subtle nod but definitely a sweet one as well.
All in all, it doesn't seem like a reprisal is totally out of the question for Wendie Malick. Despite that, the Shrinking star's “gut feeling” is that Ronee’s story has been told. It’s hard to tell how the show would even bring back Ronee in a natural way with Martin gone, though I suppose the writers could come up with something.
It's been great to see the second season of the Frasier revival bringing in familiar faces. On that note, showrunners Chris Harris and Joe Cristalli told CinemaBlend about the organic way they brought back Roz Doyle, (Peri Gilpin), who’s appearing in multiple episodes of Season 2. The show has also featured Bebe Neuwirth as Lilith Sternin, Dan Butler as Bob “Bulldog” Briscoe, Edward Hibbert as Gil Chesterton, and Harriet Sansom Harris as Bebe Glazer.
As a fan, I say this legacy show -- which drops new episodes on Thursdays -- is one of the best Paramount+ original shows, regardless of who comes back and who doesn’t. Of course, it’s always a treat when fan-favorites from the OG Frasier pop up, even it is brief. It would honestly be great to see Wendie Malick join them but, if she'd rather not, I'd hope that fans would understand her sentimental reason.