She got a long-awaited apology for the snub earlier this year.

Busy Philipps explains devastating reason she wasn’t in Dawson’s Creek finale: ‘Really hurt my feelings’

She got a long-awaited apology for the snub earlier this year.

By Daysia Tolentino

Daysia Tolentino

Daysia Tolentino is a writer at *. *She has written for * *since 2025. Her work has appeared in NBC News, Vulture, GQ, and InStyle.

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December 31, 2025 12:30 p.m. ET

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Busy Philipps attends the NY premiere of 'Marty Supreme' in New York on December 16, 2025. Credit:

ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty

Busy Philipps was a regular presence in the last two seasons of *Dawson's Creek*, but was noticeably absent from the show's finale.

Joining the teen drama as Audrey Liddell, Joey Potter's (Katie Holmes) college roommate, in season 5, Philipps' wild child character quickly became part of the main friend group. During the finale, which flashes forward five years to 2008, fans see the gang reunite in Capeside for a wedding, but Audrey is missing because, as Joey says offhandedly, she's off singing backup for John Mayer.

In reality, Philipps would have loved to be in the two-part finale. However, she said that Kevin Williamson, who created the show but exited in 1999, returned to write the final episode and couldn't find a place for her.

Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson, Busy Philips, Kerr Smith, Michelle Williams, and James Van Der Beek in 'Dawson's Creek'.

Fred Norris/The WB

"What I heard at the time was Kevin was like, 'I don't know this character. I didn't create her, so she's not going to be in the finale,'" Philipps said in a recent episode of *Pod Meets World*.* *

Philipps, who has remained besties with costar Michelle Williams, said that she left the filming location of Wilmington, N.C., with little fanfare ahead of the final shoot. She returned for the finale party to fulfill her contract, but remained disappointed that her character's arc ends with a single throwaway line.

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"It was a thing that really hurt my feelings and I felt like I had given two seasons of my life to this show," she said. "People really loved my character. I really, you know, gave up like a big part of my life to be in Wilmington."

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Pacey (Joshua Jackson) and Joey (Katie Holmes) in the 'Dawson's Creek' reunion. Columbia TriStar Television

The *Freaks and Geeks* actress got some much-needed closure during the *Dawson's Creek* reunion earlier this year. She said Williamson apologized to her for writing her out of the finale during rehearsals for the script reading.

"He was just like, 'I was just in a moment in my career, my life, when like I had so many things going on. They had asked me at the very last minute to come back and write the finale. I had like a day and a half to do it, and I just made this kind of weird decision and I could have done better and I didn't, and I'm sorry,'" Philipps recalled Williamson saying.

The *Dawson's Creek *cast came together in September to raise money for *F Cancer *and star James Van Der Beek, who was diagnosed with colorectal cancer last year.**

Listen to the full episode of *Pod Meets World* with Busy Philipps below.

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Teen”