I learned about James Van Der Beek’s death as I was leaving my weekly choir practice. A few of my WhatsApp groups lit up with screengrabs and links. The news was a shock but not completely unexpected.
The 48-year-old actor revealed late in 2024 that he was suffering from colorectal cancer and in photos his physical decline was evident.
In choir we had previously covered I Don’t Wanna Wait, the theme tune for the turn-of-the-millennium teen show Dawson’s Creek. But some of my younger fellow singers looked blank as I gasped that Van Der Beek had died. It wasn’t until I qualified that he was the Dawson, of the Creek, that it clicked with them.
Dawson’s Creek ran from 1998 until 2003, six seasons in total. Its central plot was a love triangle between Dawson and his best friends Pacey (Joshua Jackson) and Joey (Katie Holmes), whose childish bonds evolved as the teen hormones surged.
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I was the perfect age for Dawson’s Creek when it aired weekly on RTÉ. My friends and I would ring each other during the commercial breaks to discuss the happenings. We were unanimously Team Pacey. He was the bad boy to Dawson’s floppy-haired angst. Any elder millennial will tell you that Joey made the right decision (spoiler alert) in ultimately choosing Pacey in the series finale. And yet, we would fight to the death for Dawson. He was a sap, but he was our sap.
Dawson was such an renowned role, and Van Der Beek had such a distinctive look, it seemed a struggle to carve out a career separate from his time at the creek. He had his 1990s teen movie moment in the high school football film Varsity Blues and moved into more serious territory in 2002’s Rules of Attraction (now considered a cult classic).
Van Der Beek really shone though when he leant into his own cult status. He first played himself in 2001’s Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, but it’s his starring role as “James Van Der Beek” in the underrated 2012 sitcom Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23 that is his crowning glory. Trading on perceptions of him as a too serious actor, he portrays a hilarious fictionalised version of himself, desperate to revive his stagnant career. It’s pitch perfect parody, and after Van Der Beek’s death at such a young age, this performance might reach a wider audience (it’s available to Irish viewers with Disney+ subscription).
An onstage Dawson’s Creek reunion in New York last September drew all major cast members, with one notable absence. Van Der Beek was forced to pull out, citing illness. Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda stepped in to play Dawson for the live reading of the pilot episode script (Miranda’s Hamilton director Thomas Kail is married to Michelle Williams, who played Jen on Dawson’s Creek). The event raised money for Van Der Beek and a cancer charity, and clips posted online demonstrated just how loved he was. After his death was announced on Wednesday, a Go Fund Me campaign set up to provide financial support to his wife and six young children reached more than $1 million within 12 hours.
Van Der Beek may have wondered at times early in his career if he would ever shake being Dawson, or indeed if it was always destined for him – his surname translated from Dutch means “from the brook/stream”. However, it turned out he had the perfect temperament, humour and charm to pull it off and make it work. There’s not many who could say that.
