In 1998, shortly after the success of “Scream,” screenwriter Kevin Williamson proved once again that he understood teenagers. He created and ran “Dawson’s Creek,” a teen drama that aired for six seasons on The WB. Set in the fictional town of Capeside, Massachusetts, the show followed the puberty-soaked adventures of Dawson Leery (James Van Der Beek) and his friends; they grew up, fell in love, dealt with high school problems, and eventually went off to college.

The show had a major impact on pop culture, not least because of its iconic theme song. Paula Cole’s “I Don’t Want to Wait” defined the show, its lyrics setting the tone for the gung-ho spirit with which those kids approached their lives: “I don’t want to wait for our lives to be over / I want to know right now what will it be.” Audiences around the country tuned in each week to find out what it would be.

Eventually, though, all good things must come to an end, and “Dawson’s Creek” went off the air in 2003. Much of the cast was already positioned for superstardom: Michelle Williams was well on her way to being a certified A-lister, Katie Holmes was only a few years out from dating Tom Cruise, and so on. With that said, read on now to find out what happened to the cast of “Dawson’s Creek.”

As the movie-obsessed Dawson Leery, James Van Der Beek became a generation-defining heartthrob. Eventually, the internet would turn GIFs of the actor’s numerous crying scenes into a ton of memes, but at the time, ’90s kids liked seeing a leading man in touch with his emotions. The actor didn’t mind the teasing, though, telling The Hollywood Reporter that he meant every tear. “It was just high drama,” he said. “You’ve been living with this character for a while and a scene like that just kind of drops in your lap and you just lose it … it was completely sincere.” He laughed, “The fact that it’s being used to mock me now, I think it’s so funny.”

In the years after “Dawson’s Creek,” Van Der Beek would go on to lampoon the star image he cultivated on the show. In the criminally underrated sitcom “Don’t Trust The B—- in Apt. 23,” Van Der Beek played a caricature of himself, sort of a funhouse-mirror version, pretending he was a self-important actor who loves to remind people that he was once Dawson. Other post-“Dawson” career highlights include high-profile roles on “CSI: Cyber” and “Pose.”

Unfortunately, in 2024, the actor announced that he had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer. That disrupted his plans to attend a 2025 cast reunion event, though he did send in a video message (via Entertainment Tonight). “I wanted to stand on that stage and thank every single person in this theater,” he said.

Katie Holmes played Joey Potter on “Dawson’s Creek,” one of the most important members of the friend group. After all, she dated both Dawson and Pacey (Joshua Jackson), Dawson’s best friend. As they would’ve said in the ’90s: Drama! Behind the scenes, Holmes was dealing with many of the same issues growing up that her character was on television. “For me, playing that role, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s what that means. Oh, I get that,'” she told People decades later. “I loved doing it. It was a really fun, profound experience.”

A few years after the end of “Dawson’s Creek,” Holmes embarked on a whirlwind, high-profile relationship with Tom Cruise, despite their considerable age gap. Their marriage produced a daughter, Suri, and they eventually went their separate ways. E! insisted that its series “The Arrangement” was not based on the TomKat relationship or Scientology at large — despite bearing a whole lot of similarities to real events.

Holmes has remained a pop cultural mainstay ever since, both as an actor and tabloid fixture, thanks to her notable fashion sense. She starred in films like “Batman Begins,” “Thank You For Smoking,” “Logan Lucky,” and “Brahms: The Boy II.” In 2025, she appeared on the hit Peacock series “Poker Face,” telling Elle that she had a blast with star Natasha Lyonne. “I think she’s the best,” Holmes gushed. “She’s incredible.”

In the very first episode of “Dawson’s Creek,” Jen Lindley (Michelle Williams) moves to town. She’s been through something in New York City and now needs to live with her grandmother (Mary Beth Peil), and she quickly falls into friendship with Dawson, Pacey, Joey, and the gang. Williams had been a child star and was going through a rough time just before signing on to “Dawson’s Creek,” and she told “Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard” that the show was a lifeline. “I thank God that I got that show, and that it plucked me out and landed me on this sleepy, southern coastal town,” she said. “Met a few people there that are still in my life that I love very much that are so much a part of me.”

Most of the main cast of “Dawson’s Creek” did very well for themselves, but Williams may be the most successful of the bunch; she’s now one of the most critically acclaimed actors of her generation. For proof, look no further than her list of Academy Award nominations, which includes phenomenal performances in films like “Brokeback Mountain,” “Blue Valentine,” and “The Fabelmans.” She’s got the box-office clout, too, having been in smashes like “Venom” and “The Greatest Showman.”

Williams is also very much still a television star, too. In 2025, she led “Dying for Sex,” an FX show that netted her a third and fourth Emmy nomination.

Joshua Jackson played Pacey Witter on “Dawson’s Creek,” a guy who starts as Dawson’s best friend, becomes somewhat of a rival for the love of Joey, and eventually finds a balance between those two roles. At times, it felt like the show wasn’t sure what to do with Pacey, something that Jackson himself later admitted to. Speaking with People in 2025, the actor said he wasn’t sure what was up with that whole arc where Pacey got really into stocks. “I don’t know where that came from. I don’t know what the point of that was. Didn’t really feel like that’s something that Pacey would’ve got up to,” he said. “Off the top of my head, that’s the one I don’t think we needed.”

In the decades since “Dawson’s Creek,” Jackson has gone on to a steady career leading several other high-profile shows. He played Peter on “Fringe,” starred as Cole on “The Affair,” and took on the Michael Douglas role in the Paramount+ “Fatal Attraction” revamp that turned the thriller into a slog.

He starred as the titular “Doctor Odyssey” on the ABC medical procedural, playing a doctor aboard a cruise ship. The show was delightfully silly and steamy, but after the first season, ABC let the boat drift away, declining to renew the cast’s contracts instead of fully canceling the show — one of the dumbest TV decisions of 2025, in our opinion. “It’s a bummer we don’t get to do it again,” he told People, “but I’m happy for the time that we got.”

While several of the kids on “Dawson’s Creek” had storylines involving tension with their parents, Jen was a bit different. When she was sent to Capeside, she moved in with Evelyn “Grams” Ryan, an older woman played by Mary Beth Peil. Though Jen was initially rebellious and Grams quite religious, the two eventually found a lovely relationship that formed one of the show’s most reliable emotional cores. Eventually, Grams even started dating. “Being surrounded by all those raging hormones and libidos had a subliminal effect on her,” Peil reflected to TeenDramaWhore.

After “Dawson’s Creek,” Peil went on to play another fantastic television grandma. She starred as Jackie Florrick on “The Good Wife,” a rich woman who’s both loving and withering, helping her daughter-in-law, Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies), just as often as she cuts her down with merely a look.

Peil is a celebrated stage actor, and in recent years, that’s where she’s spent much of her time. In 2017, she was nominated for a Tony Award for her portrayal of the Dowager Empress in “Anastasia.” She told BroadwayWorld that it was surreal to be back 32 years after her first nomination, remembering that she told herself she wanted to feel more like a member of the community next time. She smiled, “It came true.”

The second season of “Dawson’s Creek” introduced several new characters, including Andie McPhee (Meredith Monroe). She’s a rich girl who’s dedicated to her studies, eventually wearing Pacey down and becoming his first real girlfriend. In 2018, Entertainment Weekly put together a 20th-anniversary reunion, and Monroe told ET that she had a blast. “It was like we didn’t even skip a beat, and a day hadn’t even gone by. It was a blessing,” she said. “Throughout the years, we would go in and out of touch [depending on] whatever was going on with people’s lives, but we definitely did reconnect.”

Monroe is otherwise best known for her recurring part on “Criminal Minds,” the long-running CBS procedural. She played Haley, the wife of Thomas Gibson’s character Hotch; though she was initially unsure how much she was signing on for, Monroe ultimately starred in 15 episodes across the show’s run. “I thought, what the heck!” she told Starry Mag. “It sounded fun!”

In addition to Andie, the second season of “Dawson’s Creek” also introduced her brother Jack (Kerr Smith), a character who would go on to make television history. At the end of Season 3, Jack finally kissed Ethan (Adam Kaufman) in what was considered the first “passionate” kiss between men on primetime television. “We were the first ones to do that,” Smith pointed out to TooFab decades later, noting that just about every teen show includes queer storylines these days. Initially, he wasn’t sure he wanted to act out the storyline, overwhelmed by the responsibility of representing something so monumental for so many people. “I remember it was intense,” he said. “I’m glad we did it, and it was part of history.”

After leaving Jack behind, Smith went on to act in shows like “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” “The Fosters,” and “The Resident.” He also had a recurring role as the principal on “Riverdale,” a show all too happy to pay homage to its teen-drama predecessors … when it wasn’t finding time for some of the wildest storylines out there, from time travel to alien abductions. 

When Dawson and friends grew up and went off to college, “Dawson’s Creek” retooled its premise. The show brought in a number of new characters, including Busy Philipps as Audrey Liddell. We have the show to thank for what became one of Hollywood’s most enduring friendships, as Philipps and Williams are still famously besties after meeting on set.

When Williams appeared on Philipps’ QVC+ talk show “Busy This Week” (via People), they discussed their first interaction; it was apparently (platonic) love at first sight. “I just felt like you got it. You just understood me,” Philipps said, crying. “My entire life, I’ve always been like, misunderstood and prejudged by people, and for whatever reason, you just instantly were like, ‘I got you.'”

In addition to that aforementioned talk show, Philipps is known for roles on shows like “Cougar Town,” which she starred in for 102 episodes. She’s also been a reliable comedic presence on several Tina Fey projects, including popping in on “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” before helping lead the cast of “Girls5eva,” which was sadly canceled at Netflix in 2024.

While “Dawson’s Creek” had many memorable guest stars over the years, one particularly impactful stint was Michael Pitt’s Season 3 arc as Henry Parker. That was the season where Jack came to terms with his sexuality, a situation that would’ve been massively complicated by the fact that he was on the football team, were it not for the fact that his teammate Henry was a genuinely good guy. Through that friendship, Henry meets Jen, sparking quite a passionate romance. Pitt and Michelle Williams evidently got along great on set, too. He told Us Weekly, “She drove me to the bookstore and she just went through the bookstore and said, ‘You gotta read this, this, and this.'”

Pitt would find greater fame in the 2000s as the lead of films like “Funny Games” and “The Dreamers.” He starred on “Boardwalk Empire,” but his shocking exit in the Season 2 finale pointed to trouble in his personal life. In 2024, he starred in an excellent boxing film called “Day of the Fight,” but any attempt at a comeback was stymied by his May 2025 arrest on sexual abuse charges, per ABC News.

Dawson had plenty of romantic exploits and entanglements among his friends to take up his emotional energy, but he also often found himself dealing with issues at home. His father, Mitch (John Wesley Shipp), was a good dad, but he often got involved in his son’s romantic life, even as he struggled with his own marital problems and attempted an open relationship. Shipp was proud of the way the show treated its characters and audience, telling TeenDramaWhore that he was confused when people complained that the kids were too well-spoken. “We’re writing up to the youth audience; we’re not writing down to them,” he said. “Why would you criticize that? Isn’t that a good thing? You mean the dialogue is too smart? That’s a criticism?”

Between 2014 and 2023, Shipp appeared regularly on The CW’s “The Flash.” He’d played The Flash on an ill-fated series in the early ’90s, so he loved the chance to bring his character back to television and do it right this time, now in a sort of mentor role to a younger incarnation of the hero. (There was a lot of timeline-jumping on “The Flash;” here’s their Flashpoint storyline explained.) He told The Nerds of Color, “It’s been the most unexpected journey of discovery.”

Dawson’s mother was also a major recurring character throughout the show. Gail Leery (Mary-Margaret Humes) was a TV newscaster, and the fact that she was, for a while, the family breadwinner caused much consternation in the Leery household. They dealt with infidelity, an open marriage, and even tragic loss, and Humes told Channel 4 that the show’s honesty is what endeared Dawson’s parents to viewers. “They treated the kids like they were adults. We certainly weren’t the TV parents of the ’50s or ’60s,” she reflected. “We were just very open and honest about sexuality.”

Over the past decade, Humes has become a Hallmark Channel regular. She’s been in films with titles like “Home By Spring,” “Christmas in Love,” “Winter Love Story,” and “A Feeling of Home,” which, if you can believe it, are all different movies and are not part of a franchise.

In September 2025, speaking with Us Weekly about Van Der Beek’s cancer diagnosis, Humes opened up about having privately beaten cancer herself without ever telling the media. “It could’ve been a terrible situation, but we caught it in time,” she said, encouraging fans to get screened. She said she’s been there for her former TV son as he faces his own diagnosis. “We’ve had multiple conversations that are very uplifting and spiritual,” she continued. “He knows I’ve got his back 100 percent. He’s going to get through this.”

As “Dawson’s Creek” moved into its endgame, fans wondered whether Joey would end up with Dawson or Pacey. Throughout much of the final season, however, it seemed like the answer might be “Eddie!” Oliver Hudson played the new character, and though the Eddie/Joey pairing got quite steamy, Hudson insisted on an episode of “Watch What Happens Live” (via Business Insider) that there was no behind-the-scenes hookup with Holmes. “Katie and I actually had a very fun time in Wilmington, North Carolina,” he said, “[but] we were more brother-sisterly.”

Hudson has stuck around on television ever since. He was on 100 episodes of the long-running sitcom “Rules of Engagement,” played Jeff Fordham on “Nashville,” and starred as Wes on “Scream Queens,” playing one of the campy Ryan Murphy show’s many killers. Recent credits include “The Cleaning Lady,” a few episodes of “And Just Like That…,” and a cameo in “Happy Gilmore 2.”

These days, he also hosts a podcast called “Sibling Revelry” with his sister, Kate Hudson. In a 2024 episode (via Hello!), he spoke about the lifelong journey of forgiveness he’s been on in an attempt to understand life in the spotlight, being raised by famous parents like Goldie Hawn. “The forgiveness and the compassion that you feel towards them at the end of this process is unbelievable because then you realize that they’re only repeating the ship that they went through, you know, with their parents,” he said. We imagine Dawson can also relate.