These days the “legacyquel” is a popular way to continue franchises long after they had seemingly come to the end of their days. We’ve seen major movie franchises and TV series come back after years away. One of the more successful recent endeavors has been the return of Night Court to television. John Larroquette returned to the series, but he was the only regular cast member to do so, largely because many of the other original stars have passed away. The actor says doing the show now has him seeing ghosts.
The original run of Night Court ran from 1984 to 1992 and co-starred John Larroquette as District Attorney Dan Fielding. The Night Court cast included Harry Anderson, Markie Post, Richard Moll, and Charlie Robinson, all of whom have passed on, many of them only recently. Speaking at the Television Critics Association (via People) Larroquette says doing the show again is a mix of emotions because while he enjoys the new people, it’s impossible not to think about those who are gone. He explained…
There’s elation because there’s this new crop of people, and then there’s the sadness of remembering all those people that are no longer here. … Because of the timing, Charlie Robinson died while we were doing the pilot. Markie died not that long after. Richard Moll died, what, three or four months ago now. Harry [Anderson] died in 2017 or ‘18, so that was a little more removed. But as I said, it's like I see ghosts.
It’s not hard to see why the new Night Court would make John Larroquette so nostalgic. The set of the new show was built based on the plans of the old show, and some elements, including some furniture, are actually from the original set. But according to Larroquette, it’s more than that, because in addition to working together for so long, the stars of the original Night Court all became real friends, so when he remembers the old show, he remembers his friends who are no longer with us. Larroquette continued…
We were all good friends. We spent time with each other and also because we were young, we were successful, everybody had babies. … We were just this family together, all of us. And we spent time off stage together a lot. So it was that — it was a family.
Marsha Warfield, an alum of the original series who appeared on the new Night Court, also talked about the familial elements of the cast and says Harry Anderson, more than any other cat member, would be honored by the new series. The new Night Court is now in its second season. The original Night Court is available to stream for Prime Video subscribers.