Yahoo Movies Dawson's Creek star Joshua Jackson fought for Joey to end up with Pacey instead of Dawson: 'Hell no! No. No. No.'
No one believed Dawson's Creek's Joey (Katie Holmes) belonged with Pacey (Joshua Jackson) more than Pacey himself.
During EW's Role Call, Jackson took us through some of his most iconic roles and recounted how he advocated for Joey and Pacey to end up together.
Fred Norris/Warner Bros Tv/Kobal/Shutterstock Joshua Jackson and Katie Holmes as Pacey and Joey on 'Dawson's Creek.'
Looking back on Dawson's Creek it's clear that Joey and Dawson (James Van Der Beek) were written to follow the "friends to lovers" trope, but Holmes' chemistry with Jackson was undeniable. Creator Kevin Williamson always expected the highly-acclaimed teen drama to end with Joey choosing Dawson, but Jackson had something else in mind, and many fans agreed with him.
"I am the advocate! I was like 'Hell no! No. No. No. That's not gonna work for me.' I had a whole conversation with Kevin [Williamson] about this," Jackson explains to EW. "Like 'Look, I get it. This is the idea that you had in your head, but I'm just gonna ask you to watch the tale of the tape and this is the more interesting end for these characters.'"
Even though Jackson advocated for Joey and Pacey to end up together, he had no idea if he convinced Williamson to go down that route until he received the final script. "[Kevin Williamson] only came back to write the finale," Jackson recounts. "So, I knew whenever we got the finale script."
Jackson wasn't the only Capeside resident who thought this was the way the show needed to end. During our 2018 EW Reunion with the cast, Van Der Beek admitted, "It felt right to me. It seemed like it made more sense."
Columbia TriStar Television Katie Holmes and James Van Der Beek as Joey and Dawson on 'Dawson's Creek.'
It's no shocker that even the stars were rooting for Joey and Pacey, their chemistry was hard to ignore and their relationship as a whole felt like a better match. Jackson says he looked forward to scripts surrounding the couple's storyline. "I remember being most excited about the episode where Katie and I...it's just the two of us, we're stuck in a Walmart or something after hours." Jackson recalls, "In the sort of slug of doing television, it was so nice for her and I to have the opportunity to get the script ahead of time and then be able to really work on it and have that playtime together. So that's the one that really sticks out in my memory."
When asked why he believes fans were, and still are, so passionate about what was happening on Dawson's Creek. Jackson theorizes it was because "the themes are universal." He explains, "even though times have changed and technology has, humanity hasn't."
"I think when our show was at its best was talking about the universal experiences that we all have at that time of our life." Jackson says, "You know, dealing with friends, dealing with family, falling in love, falling out of love. What is my future? Who am I? Why am I? What's going on? Ahhhh! All that stuff."
Watch more from Jackson in the video above.
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