Dawson's Creek haunts James Van Der Beek in awkward interview

Although it’s been almost 20 years, the cast of Dawson’s Creek can seem to escape the specter of the beloved teen drama, but that’s not always a bad thing. Jenna Bush Hager brought up how much she loved the show in college when she interviewed Katie Holmes on Tuesday, and it went well. But, alas, the co-hosts of Britain’s This Morning talk show didn’t have the same positive experience when they brought up the show with James Van Der Beek on Thursday. In fact, it was pretty uncomfortable.

The awkward turtle-ness of the whole interview began with the introduction. Co-hosts Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield started the segment by asking “What happened to the main man himself, Mr. James Van Der Beek?” after running through the achievements of his fellow Dawson‘s castmates. “Well, he’s here now, and that’s what he looks like,” said Schofield as the screen split between Van Der Beek in the studio and a still from the hit WB series.

If you’re like the Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 star, you probably thought that question made it sound like Van Der Beek disappeared after Dawson’s Creek ended. Well, don’t worry, because Van Der Beek, who was clearly slightly annoyed by the photo, quickly chimed in. “I have been on television the last 20 years, just wanted to let you know,” he said.

Schofield explained, “We know that, but it worked better as a link.”

The Dawson’s Creek questions continued as Schofield asked the 40-year-old actor, who was there to promote his new series Carters Get Rich, if he ever thought they’d still be talking about the series 19 years later. “No,” he said. “I would not imagine that I would be standing in front of a picture from 20 years ago.”

Eventually, Van Der Beek warmed up to the line of questioning and opened up about what the show did for him. “It changed my life. It was a huge opportunity. I learned how to be on camera. I learned how to deal with celebrity. I learned how to deal with all kinds of things. It was a huge break. I wouldn’t change anything,” he said, before admitting that it was just weird to hear the theme music backstage before he came out. “I was like, ‘What year is it?'”

“We were very excited about it. Dawson’s Creek was a big part of my childhood,” said Willoughby. Schofield quickly added, “I don’t think you’ve ever been on this sofa before. When you come on again, we won’t do all this stuff ’cause we’ve done it. We gotta do it for the first time.”

Thankfully, the Dawson’s Creek digression ended there, and Willoughby moved the conversation onto the actor’s new series. In the Sky 1 family comedy Carters Get Rich, Van Der Beek plays an obnoxious billionaire who buys a dating app created by an 11-year-old boy. “The most fun characters to play are the ones that have zero shame whatsoever. They just drive the scenes and disrupt things,” said Van Der Beek.

Watch the awkward interview above.