There’s no better time than now to revisit one of the most legendary teen dramas of all time!
On Saturday, ex Dawson’s Creek stars James Van Der Beek and Kerr Smith reunited at 90s Con in Hartford, Connecticut to reflect on the series while speaking with PEOPLE’s Breanne Heldman. In doing so, the pair also reflected on what life was like behind the scenes of the hit series, which was filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina.
“A couple of guys on the crew had boats and you know we had guest stars come in and writers come in every episode and we’d take them out on the water on the weekends,” Smith, 52, recalled. “We would still stop in the morning and eat crabs. And we would fill the boats with everything we needed. We would grill out on the island. We all had water skis.”
More specifically about the jetskis, Smith joked, “I’m surprised I didn’t actually kill myself!”
Smith then remembered how dangerous things could get on the water. “I don’t know if you guys know how the intercostal waterway works down in Wilmington, but there’s a lot of grassy area and when the tide is high, it becomes a racetrack. When the tide goes out, it’s all mud,” he explained. “So I used to go back there and get that thing up to 70 miles an hour on the water. I remember one time I hit a sand bar and went 30 feet over the handlebars and made waves.”
90s Con 2024: Live updates from the star-studded event on Saturday, including Dawson’s Creek and Full house Panels
Joining in, Van Der Beek noted how “they used to get hurricanes every year.” But that didn’t stop them from catching waves.
“What me [would] What to do, I’d book the first flight the next morning, get on my jet ski and ride the hurricane waves,” he admitted.
“When you were riding on the backside towards the shore, in the direction of the waves, it was an optical illusion because you couldn’t see the shore, but you were convinced you were going up and up and up and up,” he continued. “By the time the wave broke. I was convinced I was about 200 feet in the air.”
Sometimes their fun with the jetski would get them into “trouble,” as Smith noted that “sometimes you hit the rear jet engine on the ground and break the prop,” which would then require them to be “towed away.”
‘Dawson’s Creek’ Cast: Where Are They Now?
Dawson’s Creek ran on The WB (now The CW) from 1998 to 2003 for six seasons. Created by Kevin Williamson, the series followed two childhood best friends who went through different stages of their teenage years together, including dating other people.
The series also starred Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams, Joshua Jackson, Mary-Margaret Humes, John Wesley Shipp, Mary Beth Peil, Nina Repeta, Meredith Monroe and Busy Philipps.
‘Dawson’s Creek’ cast in 1998.
Frank Ockenfels/Warner Bros Tv/Kobal/Shutterstock
Holmes, 45, said during a Kering Women in Motion talk in Cannes that “there have been many discussions over the years” about bringing the series back. However, she’s still not sure if revisiting it today is the right thing to do.
“We all loved the experience,” she told Variety. “There’s a protection that comes with discussion. The show was a time capsule. To put it in today’s world might tarnish it a bit.”
“It was right before everyone had phones and social media and all that, so there was an innocence to the characters that was one of the things I think people loved about the show,” she added. “I’m not sure I put that in the context of today’s world.”
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90s Con runs through Sunday at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, Connecticut.
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Source: HIS Education