Busy Philipps has admitted the Dawson's Creek cast were still hopeful James Van Der Beek would join their reunion "up until the last second".

The 48-year-old actor - who is battling stage three cancer - pulled out of a live reading of the show's pilot episode at the Richard Rogers Theatre in New York last month after falling ill, but his castmates refused to give up hope that he'd be able to get on stage to read his character Dawson Leery's lines.

Busy told Us Weekly magazine: “I think we were all really hoping that James was going to be able to make it even kind of up until the last second.

"We just had a contingency plan in place.”

James' part was instead taken by Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose musical Hamilton is usually performed in the same venue.

Busy added: “Thankfully, Lin-Manuel M

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