Will & Grace revival is renewed for a third season

From Digital Spy

It seems Will & Grace can do no wrong at the moment, as the revived US sitcom has been picked up for a third series – and all before the second series has even aired, or the debut season has wrapped up.

The news was officially confirmed at television festival PaleyFest in Los Angeles yesterday (March 17) by the core cast of Will & Grace – that's Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes – although we've known more episodes have been on the cards for a while now.

It began when one of the show's writers, David Kohan, confirmed that the series' planned second season run has been extended by five episodes, bringing the total number up to 18.

Related: Will & Grace is back after 11 years away – but is the new revival fabulous or a misfire?

But McCormack (who plays the titular Will) then reminded Kohan of some even more exciting news – the show is definitely coming back for a third season (also consisting of 18 episodes) as well.

"As far as I'm concerned, we can't get enough of Will & Grace and 23 more episodes is music to my ears. We're eternally grateful that Debra, Eric, Sean, and Megan feel the same way and wanted to keep this good thing going," NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt said in a statement (via EW).

"I'm overwhelmed by the euphoric response the new show has received from the press and the audience, and my hat is off to the unrivalled writing team of Max Mutchnick and David Kohan, as well as the brilliant directing of Jimmy Burrows, for consistently delivering one of the best shows on television."

It's pretty good timing for the announcement of a third (or, technically, eleventh) season of the show to be announced too, as the cast just celebrated a huge milestone as it's been 20 years (yes, really) since they filmed the original pilot.

"It's hard to believe that 20 years ago today we shot the pilot of @nbcwillandgrace," Hayes wrote on Instagram.

While Messing, who plays Grace, also marked the occasion on her Instagram with a video proving just how well she and McCormack have aged over the last two decades.

"You heard it here first. In another 20 years.. the Golden Girls 2.0," she captioned the videos.

And it seems fans agree they're doing something right – at least if the huge ratings in the US and the reaction to the show's return to UK telly are anything to go by.

Season two of Will & Grace will premiere on NBC in the US later this year. Channel 5 airs the show in the UK.

Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Twitter account and you're all set.