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Busy Philipps has many beloved television shows under her belt. Before she was on Girls5Eva, the star was on shows like Freaks and Geeks and the forever iconic Dawson’s Creek. But Philipps joined Dawson’s Creek a little into its run. Her character, Audrey, doesn’t show up until Season 5, and she is Pacey’s (Joshua Jackson) girlfriend and Joey’s (Katie Holmes) roommate. This means that her character was not in the episode the cast did a reunion reading for recently. So when asked to join, Philipps had to find a new character to play: the teacher Tamara Jacobs (originally played by Leann Hunley).

In the series, Tamara is a love interest of Pacey’s. She’s also a teacher at their school, and 21 years older than the student she’s having an affair with. Which, as Philipps pointed out to PEOPLE, is one of the more inappropriate and weird storylines that has happened on Dawson’s Creek. As part of an interview about her collaboration with Zumbra, Philipps talked about the role and how Tamara’s storyline wouldn’t really work in 2025.

She spoke about Audrey and Pacey’s relationship in the pilot of the series. “They’re not even together,” Philipps said, but went on to talk about what relationship he is going through at the beginning of the show. “He’s going to have a really insanely inappropriate relationship with a teacher, which by the way, is so wild. And just goes to show you culturally how much we have changed for the better, right?” We have changed, even if shows like Pretty Little Liars had a similar kind of dynamic.

Busy Philipps Got Her Chance to Take on the Role

Because Philipps’ actual character is only in later episodes of the show, she got to play Tamara for the reunion. “[Series creator] Kevin Williamson didn’t write the part of Audrey, he wasn’t a part of that,” Philipps told the publication when they spoke about the event. “He was already long gone from the show when they went to college, and my character was added.” So while Kevin Williamson didn’t create Philipps’ role, the two did eventually get to collaborate together. “After the show, I said, ‘Well, Kevin, I guess you did write a part for me on Dawson’s Creek. You just didn’t know that it would take 20 years for me to be the right age to play it,‘” she said.

You can see Philipps play her actual character, Audrey, on episodes of Dawson’s Creek.