'Will & Grace' Revival is Officially Happening

First there was a rumor. Then there was unofficial confirmation. Now it's official. Will & Grace is coming back to NBC, at least in a limited way. The network announced officially and definitely this week that it will be reviving the early-2000s sitcom for a limited run in the fall.

The new series will debut during the 2017-2018 season, and it will feature the original cast, the original creators, and the original director. The announcement was made Wednesday at the Television Critics Association press tour by NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt and president of NBC Entertainment Jennifer Salke.

Rumors of a revival had been circulating since late last year when the cast reunited to film a short election-related scene. Last month, former Will & Grace cast member Leslie Jordan said in a radio interview that the revival was a go, but star Debra Messing insisted at the time that it wasn't.

The original series lasted eight seasons on NBC and won 16 Emmys. It's since been distributed widely in syndication, but its episodes are not available on any of the streaming services.

Revivals of defunct, once-popular series are becoming an increasingly large part of network strategy. Netflix has had success with revivals of Full House and Gilmore Girls, but other networks have had less consistent results. Fox's limited revival of The X-Files, for example, debuted to high initial ratings, but interest in the series quickly fell off.