Open up your morning light and see the love for James Van Der Beek and Kimberly Van Der Beek shine bright.
The adoration was on full display as the cast of Dawson’s Creek reunited at New York’s Richard Rodgers Theatre Sept. 22 for a charity event done in partnership with the nonprofit F Cancer amid James’ battle with colorectal cancer.
And while the actor who played the titular Dawson was unable to attend due to stomach viruses—instead sending a heartfelt video message and having Lin-Manuel Miranda serve as the understudy—his wife and their six children went, joining his former costars on stage to sing the show’s theme song, “I Don’t Want to Wait.”
“This night was so special to the whole family and more importantly just feeling my husband fill the entire theater and the love for him,” Kimberly said on Instagram Sept. 23. “We’ll be unwinding this one for a while but thank you for the love and the support and for the prayers. ‘Cause right here, front and center is my husband on my heart.”
It’s where he’s been since 2010, when they met on a trip to Israel following James’ divorce from his first wife Heather McComb.
“I was done being single,” the Varsity Blues star recalled on Instagram 10 years later. “I wanted a real relationship. A soul mate. Someone with whom I could build a family. I was mid-revelation, rattling all this off to a friend of mine when a voice interrupted us, wanting to ask him a question. I was annoyed. Who the hell was stepping all over my moment?”
Turns out, it was the very person he’d been searching for.
“Three days later, I asked her what she was looking for in a relationship. Her answer: ‘I’m not looking for a relationship,'” he continued. “Six months later we were living together.”
Soon after, Kimberly and James found out they were expecting daughter Olivia.
“Do you want some TMI?” the 43-year-old told People in 2024. “I got pregnant with Olivia two days after moving in with him. So that was six months into our relationship. I was seven months pregnant when we got married.”
The wedding took place on Aug. 1, 2010, with Olivia—now about to turn 15—arriving less than two months later. She was then joined by Joshua, 13; Annabelle, 11; Emilia, 9 and Gwendolyn, 7. However, Kimberly and James’ journey wasn’t without heartache as she suffered five miscarriages.
“I had Olivia and Joshua, then I had a miscarriage,” she shared on The Make Down Podcast in 2020. “Then I had Annabelle, another miscarriage. Then I had Emilia, another miscarriage, Gwendolyn, two miscarriages.”
The last two were late-term miscarriages, with one occurring while James was competing on season 28 of Dancing With the Stars in 2019 and the other occurring in the summer of 2020.
Afterwards, the family decided to start a new chapter by moving from California to Texas.
“We needed a change of scene,” Kimberly told City Lifestyle in 2021, “we needed to be immersed in nature, we needed to heal our bodies, our hearts, our spirits.”
Then in October 2021, she and James revealed they’d privately welcomed now-3-year-old son Jeremiah.
“We weren’t trying for more kids,” the 48-year-old wrote on Instagram in 2022. “We were done. But fortunately, this chunky little angel knew better. And when I hold him, I’m reminded of the benevolent forces out there likely laughing at my agenda and waiting for me to toss my ‘clarity’ for an upgraded reality. Thank god for surprises… and thank god we SUCK at not getting pregnant.”
But the family got a surprise no one wants to hear when James was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer in August 2023.
“I really didn’t feel like this was gonna end me,” he told People while publicly sharing his diagnosis in November 2024 to help raise awareness for early detection. “I really felt like this is gonna be the biggest life redirect. I’m gonna make changes that I never would have made otherwise—that I’m gonna look back on in a year, five years, 30 years from now and say, ‘Thank God that happened.’ And that’s how I was about 90 percent of the time. And then 10 percent of the time I was a sobbing, terrified mess.”
Through it all, James has been able to lean on Kimberly.
“She’s been amazing,” he told Good Morning America the following month. “She’s really taught me what unconditional love is.”
And as James continues his fight against cancer, he knows he won’t ever have to wait on her support.
“@vanderkimberly you are the most extraordinary human I’ve ever met,” he wrote on Instagram for the couple’s 15th anniversary in August. “One day I’ll tell the story of what you’ve endured these last two years and how you’ve shown up, time and time and time again. You have not only saved my life… you’ve shown me what it is to live. There are no words for how much I love and appreciate you. I could not do this without you.”
If you couldn’t go to the Dawson’s Creek reunion, keep reading to learn secrets about the show.
The Show Almost Never Happened
While Fox was first to pick up Dawson’s Creek, it subsequently dumped the teen drama.
“I was told they were struggling with Party of Five and they didn’t need another one,” series creator Kevin Williamson said at the 2015 ATX TV Festival.
But that paved the way for The WB to pick it up two years later.
Original Theme Song
While Paula Cole‘s “I Don’t Want to Wait” became the iconic Dawson’s Creek theme song, producers originally wanted Alanis Morissette‘s “Hand in My Pocket.”
Alas, they couldn’t land the rights, what a jagged little pill.
Those Names
Dawson. Pacey. Joey. Not names you hear every day. So how did Williamson come up with them?
“Dawson came from a real place called Dawson’s Creek where we all hung out as kids and partied,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2018, while Pacey “came from a friend of a friend named Pacey and I’d never met anyone with that name and thought it was a cool name.”
And for the show’s heroine, Williamson “wanted Josephine as a very girly name that could easily turn into a tomboy name like Joey.”
A Phrase Is Born
Remember Dawson’s infamous “walk the dog” line in the pilot?
Williamson inserted the euphemism because the network would not let them say the word “masturbate” in 1998.
Selma Blair Was Almost Joey
Before Katie Holmes was cast in the role that would make her America’s sweetheart-next-door, Blair was this close to landing the role.
“Joe was written to be a tomboy and everyone was coming in being very much a tomboy. We were very close to going with Selma Blair, who was amazing,” Williamson told THR. “She read it very tough, with a lot of heart.”
However, once he saw Holmes on tape, with “those two big eyes,” Williamson knew they had their Joey.
Joshua Jackson Was Almost Dawson
Williamson liked Joshua Jackson so much, he didn’t care what role the Mighty Ducks alum played.
“I fell in love with Josh Jackson because he could read any role, Dawson or Pacey,” he told THR. “But something wasn’t complete and that’s when the network said they didn’t see Josh as Dawson, and rightfully so. So, I went, ‘OK, he’s Pacey,’ because I knew I wanted him in the show no matter what.”
Charlie Hunnam Auditioned, Won Role of Husband
An 18-year-old Charlie Hunnam read for the WB drama in 1999 and, while he didn’t land the part, he did meet Katherine Towne at his audition.
They tied the knot in Las Vegas three weeks later and divorced in 2002, “three terrible, painful, expensive years later,” as Hunnam put it to the Associated Press in 2017.
Spon-Con Before Instagram
Dawson’s Creek became so popular that American Eagle inked a deal in 2000 to outfit the actors.
The characters wore mostly AE clothes throughout season three, and the cast appeared in ad campaigns and promos for the clothing line, helping drive the company’s net income above $105 million in 2001.
Dawson’s Devil’s Haircut
When James Van Der Beek was first cast, the studio wanted him to change his hair.
“We found an ad for The Devil’s Own, the movie with Brad Pitt,” he recalled to The Daily Beast in 2012. “They said: ‘What about Brad Pitt’s haircut?’ That’s how I got my season one haircut.”
Joey and Pacey’s Real-Life Love
Holmes dated Jackson early in the show’s run, before Pacey and Joey realized they opposite-of-hated each other.
“I’m just going to say that I met somebody last year,” Holmes told Rolling Stone in 1998, not denying that the somebody was Jackson. “I fell in love, I had my first love, and it was something so incredible and indescribable that I will treasure it always. And that I feel so fortunate because he’s now one of my best friends. It’s weird, it’s almost like a Dawson-and-Joey type thing now.”
Plus one more nugget: “He’s been in the business so long,” she added, “and he’s really helped me. I respect him as a friend and a professional.”
Kerr Smith Didn’t Know Jack Was Gay
When Kerr Smith first signed on to join the show as Joey’s new boyfriend, he had no idea the character would eventually come out and be part of the first-ever gay kiss on TV.
“I always knew I wanted Jack to come out of the closet, but I didn’t even tell [Smith],” Williamson said at the ATX TV Festival. “Let the audience love him, then let’s have him come out of the closet and have Joey have to deal with that—and then that would eventually drive her back to [Dawson].”
More poignantly, Williamson has said that every character on the show inherited traits from him, including Jack.
“Every single character has a trait of me in them,” he told Entertainment Weekly in 2018. “I had just, in my 20s, gone through the coming-out process and had told my parents I was gay. I had taken that whole journey, and I wanted a character on the show to represent that journey and to represent that side of me.”
Jack’s Ode to Real Life
Jack’s coming out episode, cowritten by Williamson and producer Greg Berlanti, was inspired by true events.
“A friend of mine had a story that I brought in that he got outed accidentally,” Berlanti told EW, “because he wrote a love poem that it was so clear to everyone else that it was about a guy.”
Jen + Audrey = 4Ever
Michelle Williams and Busy Philipps‘ best-friendship, which first blossomed on Dawson’s Creek, is still going strong to this day.
“I’m so in love with her,” Williams told People of her bestie at a 2016 screening of Manchester by the Sea, one of many red carpet date nights for the besties. “She’s proof that the love of your life does not have to be a man! That’s the love of my life right there.”
Philipps is also godmother to Williams’ daughter Matilda Ledger, who was born in 2005.
Cause for Celebration
Dawson finally losing his virginity was such a big show moment that Van Der Beek brought a very special gift to set the day the scene was filmed.
“I remember bringing champagne for the crew—Dawson finally lost his virginity!” he told The Daily Beast.
Chad Michael Murray, One Tree Heel?
Before starring on One Tree Hill, Chad Michael Murray had an arc on Dawson’s Creek playing Charlie, a love interest for Jen and Joey.
But while Charlie got around, Murray didn’t seem to make a lot of friends during his first stint in North Carolinav (OTH later filmed there).
During a Paley panel in 2009, Philipps called him “a douche,” later saying, “Don’t worry. I’m not real worried about burning bridges with CMM.”
Van Der Beek added, “He’s actually come a long way.” Post-event, Philipps tweeted, “Just finished the dawson’s creek panel. Maybe I was too harsh on chadM2… Nah.”
Murray, meanwhile, hasn’t stirred the pot, saying in 2015 that he learned a lot from the experience.
“I had the opportunity to learn from people who had been doing it for a couple of years longer than I was when I walked into the Dawson’s cast,” he told Cosmpolitan.com in 2015. “You know, Michelle and James and Katie and Josh—they really kind of guided me, because they’d already been around for five, six years, maybe longer. And if they had the time, they were showing me the ropes. I had no idea what lighting was, I had no idea about a lot of the technical aspects of what we do, and so I’m grateful for that experience.”
Familiar Faces, Now
Just a sampling of the famous faces, ranging from the already familiar to future huge stars, who appeared on Dawson’s Creek over the years: Seth Rogen, Jane Lynch, Julie Bowen, Scott Foley, Jensen Ackles, Hilarie Burton, Rachel Leigh Cook, Ali Larter and Oliver Hudson.
Creek Run-Off
Young Americans was a short-lived spinoff centering on Pacey’s friend Will Krudski (Rodney Scott) and his boarding school classmates at Rawley Academy.
Also starring Ian Somerhalder and Kate Bosworth, it was canceled after just one season.
The Show Almost Ended With Joey Picking Dawson
The show’s main love triangle officially disassembled when Joey chose Pacey in the 2003 series finale.
But it almost didn’t turn out that way, as Williamson first envisioned Dawson getting the girl. But halfway through writing the finale, Williamson realized that a happy ending for that couple wasn’t “what the show was set to be.”
“I wanted it to be a twist on the teen genre but also wanted it to be surprising, honest and real and say something about soul mates and what soul mates can be,” he explained at the ATX TV Festival. “That’s why we did it that way. When you left the show in that last moment, they’re a family and everyone got what they wanted. There was fulfillment and they were all happy.”
At the last minute, he changed his mind and the rest is TV history. But Williamson admitted his mom, who played for Team Dawson, was not happy.
Jen’s Death Was a Lesson
In the finale, which jumped ahead five years, the group had to deal with the devastating loss of Jen.
“Dealing with the death of one of their own was the final thing that thrust them into adulthood forever. Dawson’s Creek was a coming-of-age story and that was the idea behind that ending,” Williamson explained of the decision. “That’s why we killed Jen, because I wanted them to deal with a death of one their own as that final lesson.”
Writers’ Room Goals
Some of the executive producers who get their start on Dawson’s?
Julie Plec (who went on to gift us with The Vampire Diaries and The Originals), Berlanti (Everwood, Arrow, The Flash, Riverdale…the list goes on and on, and that doesn’t even include his movies), Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars and iZombie), Jenny Bicks (Sex and the City), Anna Fricke (Being Human), Dana Baratta (Jessica Jones) and many more.
