Following Van Der Beek’s tragic death at the age of 48, EW is looking back on the cover shoot that got Dawson, Joey, Pacey, and Jen back together.

Dawson’s Creek forever.

On Wednesday, the enduringly beloved teen drama lost its leading light — James Van Der Beek, who died at the age of 48 after a battle with colorectal cancer. As tributes pour in for the series’ titular star, Entertainment Weekly is looking back on the last time the full cast was reunited under the same roof.

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Van Der Beek and his costars, Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson, Michelle Williams, Busy Phillips, Kerr Smith, Meredith Monroe, and Mary Beth Peil became a family again for a 2018 EW cover shoot to celebrate the series turning 20 in 2018. Dawson, Joey, Pacey, Jen, and more caught each other up on how the show changed their lives, reacted to wild alternate castings that almost came to be, and reflected on how the scrappy, small-town bildungsroman became a generational touch point.

Entertainment Weekly’s ‘Dawson’s Creek’ 20th anniversary cover.Entertainment Weekly

“I was doing some appearance for The WB at the time, and it was pandemonium, like five times as many people as they thought would show up showed up,” Van Der Beek shared during the reunion. “We ran out of headshots. Girls were getting pressed against barricades. They had to take me out in a police car to get me out of there. To this day, whenever I hear a gaggle of teenage girls cackling and giggling, I have the lamest form of PTSD ever.”

He laughed then, but Dawson’s Creek really became the cultural force that no one saw coming. Least of all the cast. When the show premiered on The WB (now The CW) in 1998, each of the core four cast members only had a handful of credits to their names. Van Der Beek had sizable roles in the quirky comedy Angus opposite George C. Scott and Kathy Bates, as well as the polarizing romantic drama I Love You, I Love You Not. He’d also appeared in three episodes of the daytime drama As The World Turns. But landing the lead role of wannabe filmmaker Dawson Leary transformed his career.

Series creator Kevin Williamson told EW at the time that he originally envisioned Jackson for the part of Dawson. But The WB said no, so he went back to the drawing board. He’s grateful that he did, because when he did meet Van Der Beek, he knew at once the actor was perfect for the part. “He looked the part, he acted the part, he talked the part,” Williamson said. “And he was so intelligent, he was so smart. He didn’t look like a nerd but he was a nerd inside.”

Projecting his writer’s mind forward, Williamson, an avowed “man of conflict,” said he did not imagine Dawson fulfilling his dreams of becoming the next Steven Spielberg, at least in the way viewers were led to believe he might in the series finale.

“I think Dawson became Spielberg, all his dreams came true. I think they shattered. I think he fell apart. I think he never really found love and, when we come upon him, he’s just on the cusp of changing his whole life and finding the one thing that’s going to make it magical,” Williamson shared.

James Van Der Beek, Michelle Williams, Busy Philipps, and Mary Beth Peil for EW in 2018.

Van Der Beek himself was charmed by the character. “I love that he was sensitive, I love that he was very open and not trying to be a jock,” the actor shared during the big cast conversation. “I loved the vulnerability there, that was something that I was kind of happy to be putting out.”

The cast of ‘Dawsons’s Creek’ reunites for EW in 2018.

But he didn’t see Dawson as perfect. “The rest of it I found kind of annoying to be honest with you,” he joked, eliciting laughs from his costars. “There was so much about Dawson that annoyed me.”

Twenty years after it debuted to fanfare, becoming a lasting pop culture staple, Van Der Beek praised the series’ writers as key to the show’s success. “It was never difficult when the dialogue was the truth and when it was so eloquently put. It was kind of a dream to play,” he noted.

James Van Der Beek graces the cover of Entertainment Weekly in 2018.Marc Hom/Entertainment Weekly

Following his death on Wednesday, the official Dawson’s Creek account paid tribute to its star on social media by sharing a throwback photo of Van Der Beek with a caption that read, “His iconic portrayal of Dawson Leery helped define a generation of television for fans and continues to resonate with audiences today. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones.”

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Watch EW’s full 2018 Dawson’s Creek reunion at the top of this post.