‘Frasier’: Kelsey Grammer & Peri Gilpin Talk Frasier & Roz’s Relationship, Season 2 Kiss? (VIDEO)
“We’ve done some smooching,” Kelsey Grammer says (but remains coy) when TV Insider brings up a photo of his character (Frasier Cane) and Peri Gilpin‘s (Roz) that has been released for Frasier Season 2. (See it below.)
Executive producer Joe Cristalli, too, dodges the question about the two friends who do have a history. “It definitely looks like they’re kissing for sure, 100 percent looks like they’re kissing, and Freddy [Jack Cutmore-Scott] and Eve [Jess Salgueiro] do look shocked to see what they think looks like them kissing,” he says. Executive producer Chris Harris agrees, “It does look like they’re kissing a lot. There’s something going on.”
But looking at that relationship in general this season, “One of the wonderful things about getting to work with Peri and Kelsey is their relationship in some way reflects the relationship of their characters,” adds Harris. “These are old friends and they know each other better than anyone, even including family in some ways, and they’ve been through so much together. And each of them having the other to both support them and to sometimes tell them you’re being an idiot, it’d be great to have a friend like that.”
Gilpin reprised her role from the original series in the finale of the revival’s first season, but she’s back in a recurring capacity for its second (which premieres on Thursday, September 19).
“There’s a deep and lasting friendship between Frasier and Roz, and so it was really fun to come back last year and I could not believe what fun it was on the set. Kelsey creates an incredibly creative atmosphere where everybody’s having a good time, everyone’s working hard, everyone’s working together. The writers and the actors talk a lot, the designers. So it’s the way it should be, is what I’m saying,” Gilpin tells us (watch the full interview with her and Grammer in the video above). “I can’t tell you how much it means for an actor to get that experience, so you’ll always go back for more for that.”
She continues, “But then you have this great character, you have this great friend, you have this history. There’s nothing better, honestly.”
Grammer adds that when it came to bringing Gilpin back as Roz, it was also about “preserving the relevance” of doing so. “We were actually luckily able to figure out a really great organic way for her to be part of Frasier’s life again and for them to be in one another’s life in terms of, they’re discovering a new life together, which is why the return to Seattle—which we are not going to talk about too specifically—facilitates this logic of, well, it’s time to try something else. It’s magical, honestly. I am so excited about what it’s going to be.”
Gilpin’s on the same page. “That’s what friendship is,” she explains. “That’s what friends do, real friends. They get you to see things the way you want to see them, the way you need to see them.”
In addition to getting more Roz, this season is bringing in Kelsey’s daughter Greer Grammer as her daughter, Alice. And there have been hints at sparks potentially flying between Alice and Freddy.
“Greer is fantastic,” says Cutmore-Scott. “Having her join us on the show was a ton of fun, and she does a really nice job with [her] first episode. There’s an element there definitely. There’s some chemistry. There is some stuff that I think we’ll probably be exploring through this season and hopefully any future ones.”
Watch the video above for more from Kelsey Grammer and Peri Gilpin.
What are you hoping to see with Frasier and Roz this season? Let us know in the comments section below.
Frasier, Season 2 Premiere, Thursday, September 19, Paramount+