James Van Der Beek Shares What It Was Like to Reconnect with the Dawson’s Creek Cast After Not Talking for Years

The actor said that he and his costars “just didn’t speak for years because we’re just living our lives”

James Van Der Beek opened up about reconnecting with his Dawson’s Creek castmates years after the show went off air.

The 48-year-old actor brought Dawson Leery to life in the hit series, which ran between 1998 and 2003. Other core cast members included the likes of Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams and Joshua Jackson.

During a March 20 appearance on Jana Kramer’s Whine Down podcast, Van Der Beek revealed that he and his costars are still friends and that they have been in touch “recently.” However, this comes after they took some time apart.

“We all went our separate ways and, you know, just didn’t speak for years because we’re just living our lives and doing our things,” he explained. “And to just reconnect and be like, ‘Oh, wow. I love who you’ve become.’ “

Van Der Beek added that it’s “just been so great” to find out what everyone has been up to since the show ended and highlighted their “shared experience from back in the day.”

The actor also confirmed that he did enjoy talking about Dawson’s Creek now, saying, “I have such a nostalgia for it. I don’t know whether it’s just time or what, but yeah.”

There is one question that he doesn’t like answering — if he is “upset” that Joey Potter (Holmes) ended up with Pacey Witter (Jackson) instead of his character.

“That question I hate,” he said, continuing, “because honestly as an actor, I didn’t really have that big of an opinion on it. And everybody wants me to come down on one side.” He said that he appreciated “that people are invested” still, but he could see how the choice “makes sense.”

Life has changed a lot for Van Der Beek since the show finished its run. He is now a dad to daughters Olivia, Annabel, Emilia and Gwendolyn, and sons Joshua and Jeremiah. He shares his children with his wife Kimberly, whom he married in August 2010.

In November 2024, the actor revealed that he had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer.

“I’ve been privately dealing with this diagnosis and have been taking steps to resolve it, with the support of my incredible family,” he told PEOPLE at the time.

More recently he said that he’s lived through “the hardest year of my life” and that he’s had to “look my own mortality in the eye.”

In a video shared on Instagram in March 2025, he told supporters that he came to a realization: “I am worthy of God’s love, simply because I exist. And if I’m worthy of God’s love, shouldn’t I also be worthy of my own?”