Debra Messing talks 'Will & Grace' and why she was compelled to return to the show

— -- When Debra Messing returned to her role on the sitcom “Will & Grace” after a 10-year hiatus, fans were both shocked and delighted.

For many, the show had become more than just entertainment -- it offered hope. Messing talked about it in an appearance on “Popcorn With Peter Travers.”

“It was astonishing. I mean none of us ever saw that happening or coming. Our job first and foremost is to entertain. And in sitcoms, it's to make you laugh,” said Messing.

“Starting the second season, we started to get the unbelievable fan mail. That was unlike any fan mail any of us had received before, which was, ’Hi, I'm 15. I just came out to my parents. They won't speak to me. My best friend won't talk to me anymore. I wish I had a Grace in my life,’" Messing recalled.

“There were so many accounts of young people who came out and who subsequently sat down with their parents and watched every week and slowly, week by week, they started laughing together," she added.

Messing, 49, told Travers that now, 10 years later, that same message seems to be lost and she believes there’s a void.

“A strong reason why I was compelled to come back was because I was fearful about what was happening to our social policies,” Messing said. “And I just thought at least if we're on the air people will have to at least see these characters even if they don't watch it. They will have to be aware. You've got to accept it. This is just a part of our society.”

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Fate may also have played a role in the return of the show. It turns out the show creators, Max Mutchnick and David Kohan, saved the entire set after “Will & Grace” initially wrapped production. They put it on display at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts.

“They were like, this is a gift to the university. Then it’s a crazy story. Max got a call from Emerson saying: 'There’s a leak. So you’ve got to take your whole set back to LA while we fix the leak,'" Messing said. "So that was the only reason why he had it in Los Angeles. And that was when they were like, 'Wait a minute. We have the set. We could do something like a movie.' So that’s how it all began.”

Be sure to watch the full interview with Peter Travers and Debra Messing in the video above.