The 51-year-old actor takes on a totally different role on the NBC sitcom.
Warning: Spoiler alert! Do not proceed if you haven’t watched Thursday’s season premiere of Will & Grace. Everyone else, you may proceed…
David Schwimmer pivots into a new role on Will & Grace.
The 51-year-old actor made his debut on the revival's season two premiere episode on Thursday night, as Noah, a Twitter celebrity known as the West Side Curmudgeon who "hates the things that Will (Eric McCormack) and Grace (Debra Messing) hate and tweets about it."
Making his first appearance within the first two minutes of the episode, Noah's cranky New Yorker vibe is the total opposite of Grace's bubbly and over-the-top personality. As Grace throws a campaign party with hopes of becoming the president of the New York Society of Interior Designers, in walks the famous social media star.
"I read your feed every day," Grace excitingly tells Noah after he yells at a man for not holding the door for him. "We hate all the same things. TV and taxis…"
"Chatty redheads," Noah interrupts, as she replies, "Oh, yeah. The worst," not picking up the dig that was directed towards her. "You have a ton of followers and I would love a shout-out," Grace asks.
As the two have a back-and-forth about attending events just for the food, Noah slyly makes it known that he has an ex-wife, and Grace adds that she also has an ex. While making his exit and taking some food for the road, Noah asks if he can take one of her campaign pamphlets, which makes Grace very happy. She then runs over to Will and tells him that she connected with Noah. Will, however, points out that "maybe he wanted to keep your pamphlet to mock you on Twitter. He is the West Side Curmudgeon."
And he wasn't wrong because he takes out his phone and reads Noah's latest tweet: "Hi, I'm Grace Adler and I'm running for president of the dumbest thing in New York."
A frenzied Grace then hunts down Noah at a diner, where the rest of their scenes play out. "That tweet was very mean, especially after the way you flirted with me," Grace sternly tells Noah, who annoyingly replies, "Flirted? You mean when you talked and I didn't stop you?"
"And you happened to mention, your angry ex. OK, I get it, you're single," Graces continues. "That's flirting… and I made you smile… Just take down the tweet. OK?"
"Yeah, I'm not gonna do that," a grouchy Noah utters as Grace gets up and leaves. This, however, isn't the last we’ve seen of her. Coming back for a second time, Grace once again begs the West Side Curmudgeon to take down the tweet. He tells her, “Don’t take it personally, OK. I just think people like you are ruining the city.”
The discussion leads nowhere, except to find out that Noah doesn't want "beautification" in NYC but "uglification" and that Grace thinks he's a "miserable, cynical person who finds fault with everything because [he's] alone in [his] sad apartment."
After she calls Noah out for his grouchy personality, he takes a stab at Grace, whom he describes as "divorced and alone in her late 40s." She makes her exit yet again, but then comes right back and gives him a piece of her mind.
Following Grace's jabs at Noah, he makes a comment about her being a theater major at NYU, which Grace picks up because she never told him where she went to school.
"You Googled me!" a wide-eyed and excited Grace says. "I did not," Noah replies, with Grace then asking to see his search history on his phone. "Fine, I Googled you but that doesn’t mean… I, listen, I had to," Noah stutters as Grace makes fun of him. Defeated and embarrassed -- yet looking at Grace in a new light -- Noah finally decides to take down the tweet.
The mood takes an unexpected turn when he then invites her to stay for rice pudding, adding: "It might be a while. The service is terrible."
"I'm not in a hurry," a surprised Grace notes, with the final scene leaving fans wondering how their story will continue.
ET spoke with Messing in July, where she first revealed that Grace would be getting a new love interest. "Things expand this season," Messing said. "You know, we really get into each character's private lives. Grace gets a boyfriend. Boom. That's right. And I'm not allowed to tell you who, but you're gonna be so excited."
For now, fans will have to wait and see how Grace and Noah's relationship blossoms throughout the season.
Will & Grace airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
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