Dawson is dead: James Van Der Beek was 48 years old

Generational icon, hero of one of the most significant teenage series of his time, the actor succumbed to cancer.

“I don’t want to wait for our lives to be over…”

We all have these little series credits in mind this morning, while American TV has just lost one of its most endearing faces.

James Van Der Beek, unforgettable Dawson Leery in the series Dawson, died last night at the age of 48. The actor was battling colorectal cancer diagnosed in 2023, which he made public very quickly. His family announced the sad news via Instagram:

“Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed away peacefully this morning. He faced his final days with courage, faith and grace. There will be much to share about his wishes, his love of humanity and the sacredness of time. Those moments will come. For now, we ask for respectful silence as we mourn our beloved husband, father, son, brother and friend.”

A precocious actor who appeared on the Off-Broadway stage while still in high school, James Van der Beek had cut his teeth in the theater and in small independent films, before landing, just before his 20th birthday, the role that would change his life and define an entire era: in 1997, we met Dawson, a passionate romantic teen film buff, imagined by creator Kevin Williamson based on memories of his own youth.

Dawson will mark an entire generation. The nice, obsessive dreamer, a fan of cinema and especially of Steven Spielberg, was the sentimental mirror of many teenagers of the time, even if he will always have suffered comparison with the coolest bad boy Pacey Witter played by Joshua Jackson… who also ended up having the girl (Katie Holmes aka Joey) in his place, at the end of six dramatic seasons. An endearing perennial handsome loser, the kid has even become an immortal meme as Dawson cries after a breakup.

A discreet actor, James Van Der Beek never really found such an emblematic role after the end of the series in 2005.

He returned to the theater then made notable appearances over the 9 seasons of How I Met Your Mother, where he mischievously played with his image, playing a bad guy the opposite of Dawson Leary. We will later encounter him in The Scott Brothers or Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt. 23 but also as a flamboyant DJ in What Would Diplo Do.

In recent years, he had landed a recurring role in CSI: Cyber. Then James Van der Beek became a nostalgic face of the small screen, participating in Dancing with the Stars or Masked Singer.

Because for a whole generation, he will forever remain this boy from Capeside, staring into the ocean, convinced that life resembles a film…