Dawson’s Creek Reunion: Joshua Jackson and Katie Holmes Hold Hands

Joshua Jackson and Katie Holmes leaned on each other for support as they took their final bows following the Dawson’s Creek reunion.

Jackson and Holmes, who portrayed Pacey Witter and Joey Potter, respectively, on the WB series, could be seen holding hands and placing their heads on each other’s shoulders as they wrapped up their performance at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway on Monday, September 22.

The pair were joined by the rest of the show’s cast including Michelle Williams, Kerr Smith, John Wesley Shipp, Mary Margaret Humes, Meredith Monroe, Busy Philipps, Mary Beth Piel and Nina Repeta, along with show creator Kevin Williamson, following a read-through of the pilot script.

When the show’s theme, “I Don’t Wanna Wait” by Paula Cole, began to play, the cast linked arms and Philipps, 46, encouraged the crowd to participate in a sing-along. Two of James Van Der Beek’s children then took the stage to belt out the song’s final verses. Van Der Beek’s wife, Kimberly, and the rest of their children joined them shortly after.

Monday’s event was organized to raise money for F Cancer in honor of Van Der Beek, 48, who is currently battling stage III colon cancer. While the actor was initially scheduled to voice his character, Dawson Leery, he announced earlier on Monday that he wouldn’t be able to attend due to illness. Lin-Manuel Miranda instead took over the titular role.

“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 via Instagram. “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.”

Kimberly later confirmed via social media comments that she would still be there with their children. (The couple share daughters Olivia, 14, Annabel, 10, Emilia, 8, and Gwendolyn, 6, and sons Joshua, 12, and Jeremiah, 3.)

Ahead of the show, Kimberly was spotted at the venue taking photos of people in line waiting to enter, telling fans, “This is for James!”

The start of the event featured Jackson and Holmes taking the stage first before the lights dimmed and a special video from Van Der Beek played for the audience.

“I can’t believe I’m not there,” Van Der Beek began. “I can’t believe I don’t get to hug my castmates, my beautiful cast, in person, and I just wanted to stand on that stage and thank every single person in this theater for being here tonight. From the cast to the crew to everybody who donated their time and has been so generous. And especially every single last one of you. You’re the best fans in the world. Thank you for coming.”

He also praised Miranda for agreeing to attend at the last minute, saying the cast wanted to find an “understudy” who “basically, you would never believe we got to do it.”

Dawson’s Creek aired from 1998 to 2003 for six seasons and followed Dawson and his friends as they navigated life, love and loss throughout their teenage years. In Us Weekly’s cover story about the highly-anticipated reunion earlier this month, Philipps revealed that she’d been helping Williams, 45, organize things. “It’s been a lot of work, but it’s so exciting to bring everyone together for James,” she said. “It’s going to be amazing.”

Humes, meanwhile, said she and the cast knew it was important to be there for their former costar.

The first phone call I got was from James himself,” Humes told Us. “He told me that Michelle was spearheading this, and it was a way for us to actually have a reunion, all of us together, and celebrate James’ life. Because he’s dealing with a very difficult situation; very optimistic, but a difficult situation. Together as a TV family, we just thought we needed to be there for him and rally around him.”