NEW YORK CITY, New York— James Van Der Beek may have missed the long-awaited “Dawson’s Creek” reunion in person, but the 48-year-old star, best known for playing Dawson Leery, surprised the audience with a pre-recorded video message during Monday night’s charity event at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, TV Insider reported .

The reunion, organized by Michelle Williams, brought together original cast members including, Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson, Busy Philipps and others for a live reading of the show’s 1998 pilot episode. The event raised money for the nonprofit F Cancer and supported Van Der Beek, who revealed last year that he is battling stage 3 colorectal cancer .

Van Der Beek had planned to attend but announced on Instagram the day before that “two stomach viruses” had sidelined

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