“ Will & Grace ” star Eric McCormack has given his stamp of approval to a proposed Lego playset in his and his co-stars’ likenesses.
Designer Mark Fitzpatrick has submitted a plan for a “Will & Grace”–inspired set to the Lego ideas team. Included is a faithful reproduction of Will Truman’s New York apartment, as well as mini figures of Truman (McCormack), Grace Adler (Debra Messing), Jack McFarland (Sean Hayes) and Karen Walker (Megan Mullally).
Fitzpatrick, a longtime Lego enthusiast who works as a marketing manager, campaigned for a playset based on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” last year. That project garnered more than 10,000 votes on the Lego ideas team website, ensuring that the toy company would review the concept.
While his “RuPaul’s Drag Race” set was ultimately not selected for production, Fitzpatrick said the “warm, genuinely positive reaction” the proposal received inspired him to move forward with his “Will & Grace” design.
“I really wanted to create and share another LGBTQI-friendly concept, knowing how important positive, fun representation means to so many in our community,” he told HuffPost. A Lego set based on a “globally loved, multi-award-winning comedy” like “Will & Grace,” he added, would “make good commercial sense for Lego and provide hours of building and play fun for fans all around the world.”
On Wednesday, McCormack signed his support for the project on Twitter.
As of Thursday afternoon, Fitzpatrick’s design had received over 400 votes, with 10,000 required in order for Lego to begin a formal review process. Fortunately, he’s got more than a year to clear that threshold.
During its initial eight-season run, “Will & Grace” broke ground in its portrayals of gay characters on television. The Emmy Award–winning series concluded in 2006, then returned to NBC last year in an acclaimed revival featuring all four stars.
The revival has been renewed for two additional seasons ― all the more reason that Fitzpatrick would like his Lego set to succeed.
“At its heart, this sitcom is a celebration of friendship through thick and thin. It values individuality and love, and it helped pave the way for greater mainstream representation of LGBT lives,” he said. “All of these qualities inspire me and encouraged me to celebrate it, as it approaches its 10th season, through this Lego project.”
