Behind the Scenes Drama That Led to the End of Dawson's Creek

Dawson's Creek was a show that was doomed to succeed, but there was some behind-the-scenes drama that prompted it to come to an end. At least that is the view of John Wesley Shipp, who portrayed Mitch Leery, the main character's father.

Shipp was a part of the show for four full seasons, guest starring in the fifth season. Speaking with Michael Rosenbaum on his podcast Inside of You, the actor recalled his first impression of the show – "an instant hit" – and pondered of things that contributed to its end.

"By fourth-fifth-sixth season a combination of things happened," Shipp explained. "Number one: they [the teen actors] were getting all these other offers, they wanted to make a leap to what was next. And whatever character- conflicts-personalities, [as well as] different ways of working – [the] combinations they had to make to work with each other began to really grind on, to irritate."

He was apparently referring to how Joshua Jackson (Pacey Witter) and Katie Holmes (Joey Potter) started dating after meeting each other on set only to break up a year later. Aside from that, one of the actors, Monica Keena who played mean girl Abby Morgan, even asked to be killed off because she couldn't handle the pace of the work.

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Shipp, however, refused to elaborate on the details of the drama he was referring to. He only noted that the events in the show somewhat reflected things that were happening off camera; and given how emotional Dawson's Creek was, this alone hints at the extent of the drama the actors had to go through.

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Dawson's Creek ended in 2003, with the sixth season becoming the final one. One of the WB most iconic shows, it paved way for a lot of coming-of-age and teen dramas, and propelled the young actors involved in it to international stardom.