Joshua Jackson has spoken for the first time about the death of his late Dawson’s Creek co-star James Van Der Beek. The late James Van Der Beek, 48, passed away one month after battling cancer.
The “Mighty Ducks” star, 47, opened up to “Today” viewers on Tuesday about how his grief is “affecting him in a lot of different ways.”
“The magnitude of that tragedy for his family hits me in a much different way as a father than it does just as a colleague, so I think this process is ongoing,” Jackson said.
He went on to call his friend’s death a “huge” loss.
Jackson and Van Der Beek played Pacey Witter and Dawson Leary, respectively, on the show for six seasons.
The actors were roommates in Wilmington, North Carolina, while filming the teen drama, which aired from 1998 to 2003.
“The checks hadn’t gone through, so I didn’t have any money yet,” Jackson, 47, recalled in a 2018 interview with Entertainment Weekly. “So it was kind of a relief to have people sign up.”
“Then some hijinks happened,” he said.
At the time, Van Der Beek apologized for “setting off my alarm clock 70 times.”
He and the other cast members didn’t speak for years after the series ended, but Van Der Beek told listeners of the Whine Down podcast in March 2025, “Recently…we’re going to reconnect.”
Meanwhile, Jackson said on Dinners on Me the following month that although there were some “fuck you, don’t talk” moments, the co-stars bonded for life through “formative experiences” and remained in touch.
He clarified, “In some cases, it’s not a weekly, monthly, or even semi-annual call.”
But after Mr van der Beek was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in August 2023, “the whole gang” started “a little group text exchange”.
On an April 2025 episode of “The Jennifer Hudson Show,” Jackson said, “He’s slowly getting better, but obviously it’s a very scary situation. (I’m) sending thoughts and prayers and whatever I can to him and his family.”
Notably, Van Der Beek is married to wife Kimberly Van Der Beek, with whom he shares three children: Olivia (14), Joshua (13), Annabelle (12), Emilia (8), Gwendolyn (6), and Jeremiah (3).
Kimberly, 43, and her six children attended the Dawson’s Creek reunion in September 2025 in James’ absence to raise money for his treatment.
James made a surprise video appearance after leaving the show, and in his final interview three months later, he told concerned fans that the reason he looked so thin on screen was because of a stomach virus and that the reason was “not cancer-related.”
He became emotional talking about the event and seeing the standing ovation his family received.
News of James’ death broke in February, with Kimberly posting on Instagram about the “courage, faith and grace” with which her husband “lived his final days.”
Since then, Holmes, other Dawson’s Creek stars, and creator Kevin Williamson have paid tribute to James on social media.
