Summary
The main father-son relationship from Frasier shaped the forthcoming reboot, director James Burrows explains. The Paramount+ revival features the return of Kelsey Grammer’s Frasier Crane as he begins the third act of his life by moving back to Boston, where he was first introduced at the titular bar in Cheers. The reboot will feature other original characters, such as Frasier’s son Freddy (who is now played by Jack Cutmore-Scott), but not Frasier’s father, Martin, as John Mahoney passed away in 2018 following Frasier’s original conclusion in 2004.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly ahead of the Frasier reboot’s release date, Burrows explained how the main father-son relationship from the original series helped shape the revival. Burrows, who directed the first two episodes that premiere on October 12, says that because Frasier and Martin’s relationship was so effective, they wanted the reboot to revolve around a similar dynamic between Frasier and Freddie. Read what Burrows shared below:
There’s a lot of Martin in Freddy. [Creators Joe Cristalli and Chris Harris] specifically wanted Frasier to deal with his son… because the relationship with Kelsey and Mahoney was wonderful. So they tried to tap into that, and I think they succeeded.
More On How Frasier & Martin’s Relationship Shaped The Reboot
Since Mahoney passed away in 2018, the revival was tasked with explaining Martin’s absence. In turn, the reboot begins with Frasier having recently lost his father, which motivates him to move back to Boston to spend more time with his son, Freddy, who made only a few appearances in Cheers and Frasier. Freddy is now in his 30s and as a firefighter, he doesn’t have as much in common with his father Frasier, a snooty psychiatrist. Instead, he seems to take after his grandfather, Martin, who was a blue-collar cop.
Because of their drastically different lifestyles and personalities, Frasier and Martin often clashed, and it seems Frasier and Freddie will share the same father-son dynamic that acts as the heart of the reboot. With him taking after his grandfather, Freddie will essentially act as a stand-in for Mahoney’s Martin and allow the show to pay proper tribute to the late character and actor. One of the many ways his legacy lives in the Frasier reboot is through the new neighborhood bar, named Mahoney’s.
Source: EW
