Will ‘Will & Grace’ Guest Star Samira Wiley Hook Up With Karen?
Preview
If your office was above Karen Walker’s, how long would it take you to venture downstairs to meet the loaded (in both cash and booze) divorcée (Megan Mullally)?
On the March 21 episode of Will & Grace, Orange Is the New Black alum Samira Wiley (above right, with Mullally) debuts as Nikki, the upstairs neighbor who can no longer resist the siren song of a martini shaker and a high-pitched “Honey.”
The women meet when a snowstorm strands them at work overnight and forces the grounding of Karen’s flight to visit her latest fling. “As out there as Karen is, Nikki just thinks she’s really funny,” says writer Tracy Poust. “And at the end of the night, Karen realizes she can leave to go halfway around the world to see the guy, but she’d rather stay with Nikki.”
Which raises the question: Are these two going to end up in a relationship?
Samira Wiley as Nikki, Megan Mullally as Karen Walker, Sean Hayes as Jack McFarland, Brian Jordan Alvarez as Estefan (Chris Haston/NBC)
The episode kicks off a three-week arc for Wiley, in which the larger-than-life Grace Adler Designs assistant and the smart software-company staffer grow very close.
“Karen is struggling with her identity: Who am I without a man? Who am I as a newly single woman?” explains writer Jon Kinnally. “Nikki helps her figure that out.” We’ll drink to that!
Will & Grace, Thursdays, 9:30/8:30c, NBC
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