Hours after he announced he wouldn’t be able to make the “Dawson’s Creek” reunion on Sept. 10, James Van Der Beek – who was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer in August 2023 – made a surprise appearance.
The 48-year-old actor, who was set to read the pilot along with the original cast for a charity event on Monday, appeared virtually to thank his fellow castmates and fans.
“I have been looking forward to this night for months and months ever since my angel Michelle Williams said she was putting it together,” Van Der Beek said in a video played for the audience, which fans later posted on social media. “I can’t believe I’m not there. I can’t believe I don’t get to see my castmates, my beautiful cast, in person.”
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“And just – I wanted to stand on that stage and thank every single person in the theater for being here tonight,” he continued. “From the cast to the crew to everybody who’s doing anything and has been so generous, and especially every single last one of you – you are the best fans in the world.”
“Thank you for coming. It’s just absolutely humbling just how much you did for this night, and I just want to say thank you. Thank you to every single person here,” he added. “And, obviously, on ‘Dawson’s Creek,’ I had no understudy, but this is Broadway, and I needed one. So we figured we’d try to find somebody who had never understudied in this theater before.”
He then introduced Lin-Manuel Miranda as his replacement for the event.
Hours prior, Van Der Beek said he was “gutted” to not attend the event after contracting two stomach viruses.
“This is the evening I’d been looking forward to MOST since my angel Michelle Williams said she was putting it together, way back in January…,” he wrote on Instagram.
“So you can imagine how gutted I was when two stomach viruses conspired to knock me out of commission and keep me grounded at the worst possible moment,” he explained. “Despite every effort… I won’t get to be there. I won’t get to stand on that stage and thank every soul in the theater for showing up for me, and against cancer, when I needed it most.”
In his post, Van Der Beek revealed he would be replaced by Miranda for the reunion.
He called Miranda “a ridiculously overqualified replacement who would have been #1 on my wishlist (had I ever dreamed he’d be available).”
A representative for Van Der Beek did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
After the event, the actor’s wife, Kimberly, took to social media to share her gratitude for the “Dawson’s Creek” family and the fans.
“I just got off with James, digesting the whole night tonight, and Michelle Williams was the brainchild of this night. It was such a gift,” she began the video, which she posted on her Instagram stories. “The entire cast has been beyond words; words will never do justice for their support.”
“This night was so special to the whole family, and more importantly, like just feeling my husband fill the entire theater, and the love for him,” she continued. “We’ll be unwinding this one for a while, but thank you for the love and support and for the prayers, cause right here, front and center, is my husband on my heart.”
“And it was a beautiful night, and I miss my husband,” she added. “I can’t wait to go see him tomorrow.”
Kimberly also shared a sweet selfie with Michelle Williams, Katie Homes and Busy Phillips.
“Going deeper with these ladies has been so bitter sweet,” she captioned the post. “They are magic, kind, gifted, heart forward and… sacred. Missed my guy so. But the support and the love has been healing to the core. Will post more along the way. This was a fun spontaneous one as we all ran up and down several flights of stairs to our dressing rooms.”
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Van Der Beek revealed last November that he was undergoing treatment for colorectal cancer, and earlier this year, he talked about the “hardest year” of his life.
“When I was younger, I used to define myself as an actor, which was never all that fulfilling, and then I became a husband… it was much better, and then I became a father… that was the ultimate,” he said to his 1.6 million followers on Instagram on March 8.
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The father-of-six pointed out that during his cancer battle he was forced to “look my own mortality in the eye.”
“I had to come nose to nose with death,” he remarked. “And all those definitions that I cared so deeply about were stripped from me.”
“I was away for treatment, so I could no longer be a husband who was helpful to my wife,” Van Der Beek continued. “I could no longer be a father who could pick up his kids and put them to bed and be there for them. I could not be a provider because I wasn’t working.”
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During his cancer journey, the actor admitted he began to question if he was “just a too-skinny, weak guy, alone in an apartment with cancer… what am I?”
“I am worthy of God’s love simply because I exist,” Van Der Beek shared. “And if I’m worthy of God’s love, shouldn’t I also be worthy of my own?”
“As I move through this healing portal toward recovery,” Van Der Beek said, “I wanted to share that with you because that revelation that came to me was in no small part to all the prayers and the love that had been directed toward me.”
He went on to say, “I certainly don’t claim to know what God is or explain God, my efforts to connect to God are an ongoing process that is a constant unfolding mystery to me.
“But, if it’s a trigger that feels too religious, you can take the word God out in your mind and it can simply be ‘I am worthy of love.’ Because you are.”
