Dawson: Katie Holmes hated Joey’s original ending

Dawson : Growing up in Capeside

Broadcast between 1998 and 2003, Dawson recount everyday life, love stories, joys and sorrows of four teenagers in the small town of Capeside, Massachusetts. Among them, Dawson Leery (James Van Der Beek), a big fan of Steven Spielberg who dreams of becoming a director.

His best friend Joey (Katie Holmes), whose mother died of cancer and whose father is in prison, very often visits him at home through his bedroom window, where they remake the world. His other best friend, Pacey (Joshua Jackson), works with him at the local video store. Their daily life is turned upside down by the arrival in the town of Jen (Michelle Williams), who left New York to live with her grandparents.

During its 128 episodes, Dawson reveals its four headliners and highlights many other promising young actors like Busy Phillips, Michael Pitt or Chad Michael Murray. The series created by Kevin Williamson, screenwriter of Scream And Remember… last summerends in May 2003 with an episode entitled …Must Come to an Endwhich lasts about two hours.

A first end rejected by Katie Holmes

A poignant conclusion during which the main characters must mourn a member of the band. Moreover, after many hesitations between Pacey and Dawson as well as many twists and turns, Joey ends up with the character played by Joshua Jackson. However, originally, she was to be in a relationship with Dawson in this final episode. An idea that Katie Holmes categorically opposes, as showrunner Tom Kapinos reveals in the book Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson’s Creek: How 7 Teen Shows Trasnformed Television (via TVLine):

Katie panicked. She said, ‘I don’t want to end up with Dawson. So it was rewritten.

Along with Joshua Jackson and executive producer Paul Stupin, Katie Holmes insists and wins. At the end of DawsonJoey and Pacey are both in New York and call the hero to congratulate him on his series The Creek. Even if he has not found the love of his life at the end of the program, he can still rejoice in his imminent meeting with his idol Steven Spielberg.