Joshua Jackson Jokes He’s ‘Way Too Petty’ to Not Be Team Pacey in Longtime Dawson’s Creek Debate (Exclusive)

Joshua Jackson will always root for Pacey Witter.

Speaking to PEOPLE about his role as Dr. Max Bankman in the medical drama Doctor Odyssey and its crossover episode with 9-1-1, the 46-year-old weighed in on the longtime Dawson’s Creek debate. 

“I’m Team Pacey,” Jackson said without hesitation. 

When asked if he could have changed his mind since the series ended more than two decades ago, the actor replied: “No. I’m way too petty for that. I’ll go to my grave Team Pacey.”

From 1998 to 2003, Jackson starred as Witter in the popular WB teen drama series.

The six-season show, set in the fictional small town of Capeside, Mass., followed a trio of best friends — Jackson’s Pacey, with James Van Der Beek leading the ensemble cast as Dawson Leery and Katie Holmes as Joey Potter. Michelle Williams’ Jen Lindley further complicated the group’s dynamic.

Lines eventually blurred with both boys falling for Joey, and fans got a surprise in the finale season when it came to Joey’s endgame as many assumed the titular character would get the girl. 

During a May 2022 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Jackson told the outlet that he spoke with show creator Kevin Williamson about getting Joey to end up with Pacey instead of Dawson. 

“I am the advocate!” Jackson said at the time. “I was like ‘Hell no! No. No. No. That’s not gonna work for me.’ I had a whole conversation with Kevin about this. Like, ‘Look, I get it. This is the idea that you had in your head, but I’m just gonna ask you to watch the tale of the tape and this is the more interesting end for these characters.’ ”

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Originally, her character was going to leave for New York with Dawson when the WB drama ended.

However, Van Der Beek, now 48, also seemed to think the shakeup was a good idea.

“It felt right to me,” the Varsity Blues alumnus said when the cast participated in a 2018 reunion with Entertainment Weekly. “It seemed like it made more sense.”

In addition to Jackson, Van Der Beek and Holmes, Dawson’s Creek also starred Mary-Margaret Humes, John Wesley Shipp, Mary Beth Peil, Nina Repeta, Kerr Smith and Meredith Monroe. Busy Philipps later joined during the fifth season.

Holmes previously spoke of fond Dawson’s Creek memories, saying it was a “special show, and I loved every minute of it.”