In possibly the most surprising trend of recent years, 2023 has become the year of two of Kelsey Grammer’s most famous characters returning. Even more specifically, years after their last appearances, Grammer’s Professor characters have both returned within the space of a couple of months.
Grammer has something of a track record with returning characters: in X-Men: Days of Future Past, he reappeared for a cameo as Beast 8 years after X-Men: The Last Stand, and he has repeatedly returned as Sideshow Bob in The Simpsons. Before that, of course, his most famous character, Frasier Crane, returned after Cheers in his own spin-off. Grammer, it seems, is something of a boomerang.
Kelsey Grammer Reappears As 2 Doctors In 2023
Frasier‘s revival was announced on February 24, 2021, almost 17 years after the end of the original series. Frasier Crane’s belated return to screens in his third separate series kicked off in October, 2023, following the death of Martin Crane (John Mahoney). Crucially, the show also sees Kelsey Grammer’s former radio therapist take up a role as a psychology professor at Harvard, evolving his career for a third time. As part of the Harvard faculty, Frasier effectively oversees a school of exceptional individuals, drawing a close parallel with his other famous professor role: Dr. Hank McCoy.
In X-Men: The Last Stand, Grammer was introduced as one of the co-founders and professors of Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, otherwise known as Beast. In arguably the biggest MCU surprise of 2023, Grammer revived the role for a second time, appearing in The Marvels‘ mid-credits scene when Monica Rambeau ends up trapped in his reality. That cameo established the most oddly specific trend of 2023 releases: Grammer’s most famous doctors – and now professors – returning in the space of a few short months. Unfortunately, neither has been as successful as he might have liked, with critics not falling for Frasier, and box office success eluding The Marvels.
Will Kelsey Grammer Return In The MCU?
The Marvel‘s ending sets up the intriguing possibility that characters from Fox’s X-Men movie franchise will return in the MCU. Not only does Kelsey Grammer’s Beast appear in a cameo, but he mentions giving an update to “Charles”. That would suggest that Patrick Stewart’s Xavier is also still around in the new reality introduced at the end of the Captain Marvel sequel. Quite where that reality could appear again is unclear, but there are possibilities: it could be in Captain Marvel 3, or a Monica Rambeau spin-off, or in the MCU’s X-Men movie.
At the minute, it feels most likely that the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars would be the return point for Kelsey Grammer‘s Beast. That would mean Grammer’s first and (presumably) last appearances as Beast were 21 years apart, which would beat the record of 19 years and 225 days. That was established jointly by Tobey Maguire and Willem Dafoe in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2019). Even if Robert Downey Jr reappeared in Secret Wars, he couldn’t beat Grammer’s record, and only Maguire could if Marvel Studios call him back once more for a Secret Wars cameo.
