Everything You Need to Know About the ‘Frasier’ Reboot

Kelsey Grammer, 68, is the only actor who won Emmys playing the same character on three different shows: Frasier Crane on Cheers, Wings and Frasier. And now, 30 years after the original Cheers spin-off Frasier began (1993–2004), he’s playing the sesquipedalian psychiatrist yet again on a sequel series, also called Frasier (premiering Oct. 12 on Paramount+ and Pluto TV, and Oct. 17 at 9:15 p.m. ET on CBS).

Here’s a quick lowdown on a show Grammer has been working on rebooting for the past seven years.

AARP Membership— $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal

Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine.

Join Now

Where has Frasier lived before, and where is he now?

Kelsey Grammer starred as Frasier Crane on the original "Frasier" TV series (1993-2004) on NBC.

Gale Adler/Paramount

Grammer’s character first appeared on Cheers as a date of bartender Diane (Shelley Long, 74) in Boston. He was supposed to be on just a few episodes, but his popularity made him a regular who outlasted Long, and his own show set in Seattle won 37 Emmys, more than any other TV comedy. On the new show, Frasier has quit his Seattle call-in radio therapist job and moved back to Boston to tie up the loose ends of his life.

Don’t miss this: Catch up on Frasier’s past in Cheers (on Paramount+ or Hulu), and the original Frasier (on Paramount+ or Hulu).

Where did everybody’s life wind up in the 2004 finale of the original Frasier?

In the hilarious and touching final episode, way better than the Cheers’ finale, Frasier’s dad, Martin (John Mahoney, who died in 2018 at 77), got married, and Frasier’s persnicketier-than-thou brother, Niles (David Hyde Pierce, now 64), and Daphne (Jane Leeves, 62) have a son, David Crane. And Frasier followed his love, Charlotte (Laura Linney, 59), to a new home in Chicago.

What happened in Chicago, and how did Frasier wind up in Boston?

The new show will explain it all. “It’s Frasier’s fourth act, really,” Grammer told the Today show. “When he left Seattle in the previous show, he went to Chicago. There’s a whole raft of time there that we’ll discover a little bit about."

So who’s the woman in Frasier’s Boston life?

(Left to right) Kelsey Grammer and Bebe Neuwirth on the original "Frasier" series.

Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images

One of them is Lilith (Bebe Neuwirth, 64), Frasier’s ex-wife on both Cheers and the original Frasier. They reunite at the birthday party of their son, Freddy (Tenet’s Jack Cutmore-Scott), and she’s not altogether thrilled about Frasier’s return to Boston. “What begins as a fun party with friends and family inevitably becomes a Lilith-and-Frasier showdown for the ages!” says Paramount in an official statement. Also, Frasier’s former radio show producer, Roz (Peri Gilpin, 62), will make at least one appearance.

Sadly, you won’t see most of the beloved original characters

(Clockwise from top left) David Hyde Pierce as Niles Crane, Peri Gilpin as Roz Doyle, John Mahoney as Martin Crane, Jane Leeves as Daphne Moon and Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane.

David Rose/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images

Grammer tried and failed to bring back all the living core cast members, but this is mostly a show about Frasier, with a bunch of new faces.