James Van Der Beek said Sunday night that he is dropping out of the live Dawson’s Creek reunion event due to “two stomach viruses.”

Lin-Manuel Miranda will replace him for the one-night-only live reading of the pilot script. 

The event, which will benefit the organization F Cancer, is set to feature original stars Michelle Williams, Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson, Mary Beth Peil, John Wesley Shipp, Mary-Margaret Humes, Nina Repeta, Kerr Smith, Meredith Monroe and Busy Phillips. It will take place Monday in New York City at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. 

Van Der Beek, who revealed last year that he had been diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer, shared the news on Instagram.

“This is the evening I’d been looking forward to MOST since my angel Michelle Williams said she was putting it together, way back in January… 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 possible moment,” he wrote. “Despite every effort… I won’t get to be there.  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 most.”

He also expressed his admiration and incredulity that Hamilton mastermind Miranda would be taking over the role of Dawson Leery, whom Van Der Beek portrayed on the show from 1998–2003.

“But I DO have an understudy,” he wrote. “A ridiculously overqualified replacement who would have been #1 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 learned of his cancer diagnosis in August 2023 and shared the news publicly in November 2024. He said his cancer was detected via colonoscopy.

Read his full Instagram post below.