Night Court’s John Larroquette Admits He ‘Wouldn’t Be Here’ Without Melissa Rauch’s Persistence About the Spinoff (Exclusive)

As Night Court enters its third season, John Larroquette is reflecting on what could have been.

The actor, 76, recently spoke with PEOPLE on the set of the NBC revival, which returns on Tuesday, Nov. 19. While it’s impossible to imagine Night Court now without Larroquette and his comedic touch, he admits that getting him to join the cast initially took some convincing from costar Melissa Rauch.

“I wouldn’t be here except for Melissa, because if she wasn’t doing the show … I wouldn’t have done the show,” he says. “She’s the one who called me three years ago, however long, four years ago now, I guess, and said she was thinking about doing this. Would I do it with her? And I finally said ‘yes.’”

The comedy’s third season picks up where season 2 left off, teases the actor, delving into the possibility of Dan (Larroquette) being the father of Abby’s boyfriend Jake (Ryan Hansen). The show will also feature the onscreen sister of Christine Sullivan (Markie Post), played by Gigi Rice, and sees Wendie Malick become a series regular, reprising her character Julianne and joining castmembers like Larroquette, Rauch, India de Beauford Lacretta and Hansen.

For Larroquette, who portrayed Dan for nine seasons on the original Night Court from 1984 to 1992, revisiting his beloved character included a rush of nostalgia. The revival is filmed on Stage 10 of Warner Bros.’ studio lot in Los Angeles — “We filmed the original right across the road on Stage 9,” he explains — and also features a few items from the set of the first series, including the dark green leather couch and armadillo statue in Abby’s office.

“Walking on the stage for the first time in this new iteration, to see the sets, obviously the past comes flooding back into you,” he says, adding, “There’s so much history on this set for me. And so obviously it was melancholy, partly because … it’s a bit of a ghost town, as it were. But then to see the new people who I’ll be working with, it revitalizes the show and the relationships.”

Larroquette still frequently thinks about his former cast members from the original series, particularly given the losses of many of his costars, including Charlie Robinson and Markie Post in 2021 followed by Richard Moll last October. 

“It was sad knowing that people that I loved and worked with for all those years are gone, and it was joyous knowing that there’s this other whole group of people coming in who are new to it, who loved the show,” he explains.

While Night Court’s writers tackle the show’s plot episode-by-episode versus thinking about a larger story arc for the entire season, Larroquette hopes to see his character open his heart “a little” to the possibility of finding love again.

“Abby brings out the humanity in him again,” he explains. “So I just think to see him continue to be a bit of a curmudgeon and yet his heart open up a little as we go along is the only goal that I have with him — and to be funny.”

Season 3 of Night Court premieres Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.