A full trailer for Paramount+’s Frasier reboot has arrived, offering glimpses of an older Frasier, his new group of friends, and the resolution of a cliffhanger that has kept fans guessing since the series finale aired 19 years ago. The trailer shows Kelsey Grammer effortlessly slipping back into the role of Frasier Crane as he returns to Boston for his third act. He’s joined by Alan Cornwall, a friend from college played by Nicholas Lyndhurst; Olivia, a fellow academic played by Toks Olagundoye; and his all-grown-up son Freddy, played by Jack Cutmore-Scott.
Frasier’s original series finale – season 11, episodes 23 and 24, “Goodnight, Seattle” – saw Frasier preparing to leave Seattle behind to take a job in San Francisco. His girlfriend Charlotte, played by Laura Linney, arguably the best romantic match for Frasier in the entire series, had moved to Chicago, leaving him alone. At the end of the episode, when Frasier’s plane landed, viewers were surprised by the revelation that he’d flown to Chicago, not San Francisco, in the hope of reuniting with Charlotte. The trailer for the Frasier reboot finally resolves that cliffhanger two decades later.
Frasier’s Reboot Answers The Original Cliffhanger Ending
The trailer for the Frasier reboot has revealed that Frasier didn’t “get the girl” after heading to Chicago to reunite with Charlotte. Not only is Charlotte not featured or even mentioned at all in the trailer; Frasier is once again looking for love, and he’s just as desperate as he was in the original series. He tells his new friends that he’s no longer searching for love and is happy to stay single. But when one of his friends tells him she was thinking of setting him up with someone, Frasier instantly says, “I can be ready in five minutes!”
Frasier was never great at relationships, so it’s hardly surprising that he wasn’t able to make a long-term romance work with Charlotte. The reboot might explain exactly what happened after Frasier went to Chicago. Maybe he stayed there with Charlotte for a while, but they eventually lost the spark of their romance and broke up. Maybe, by the time he got to Chicago, Charlotte had already met someone else. The reboot might not mention Charlotte at all, leaving the reason for their breakup a mystery.
Why Frasier Didn’t Get His Happy Ending
While it might seem disappointing that Frasier’s prophesized romance with Charlotte never came to pass, it’s ultimately the right creative choice for the reboot. What made Frasier such a successful sitcom – and what made its title character so universally endearing – is that nothing ever worked out for Frasier, particularly in his love life. If he was happily married to his soulmate in the reboot, then the show wouldn’t be as funny. A lonely, perpetually single character has much more comedic potential and internal conflict than a character who’s already found “the one.”
