James Van Der Beek bows out of ‘Dawson’s Creek’ reunion due to illness. Lin Manuel Miranda to pitch in

CNN Remember when Dawson s Creek replaced its theme song with another one Well now they are having to employ an understudy for one of its stars for a special event James Van Der Beek who played Dawson Leery on the hit teen drama which ran from to has declared that he won t be able to participate in their planned class reunion due to illness This is the evening I d been looking forward to GREATER PART since my angel Michelle Williams explained she was putting it together way back in January Van Der Beek wrote on his verified Instagram So you can imagine how gutted I was when two stomach viruses conspired to knock me out of commission and keep me grounded at the worst achievable moment Multiple co-stars including Michelle Williams Katie Holmes and Joshua Jackson are scheduled for a reading of the show s pilot at New York City s Richard Rodgers Theatre Monday to raise funds for the nonprofit F Cancer and Van Der Beek who communicated in November that he is living stage with colorectal cancer Despite every effort I won t get to be there he shared in his post I won t get to stand on that stage and thank every soul in the theater for showing up for me and against cancer when I needed it bulk Instead he declared an understudy A ridiculously overqualified replacement who would have been on my wishlist had I ever dreamed he d be available Someone my kids would definitely consider an upgrade over me Plus he already knows how to get to the theater So that s convenient Van Der Beek wrote The role of Dawson usually played by James Van Der Beek Will be played by Lin-Manuel Miranda The actor thanked the Broadway star for stepping in and had certain parting words for fans Everyone please enjoy all the love in that room Van Der Beek wrote Shine specific on my family I will be beaming and receiving from afar in a bed in Austin