Ted Danson tries not to tear up while remembering ‘Cheers’ costar George Wendt

Ted Danson is still coming to terms with the loss of his longtime Cheers costar George Wendt.

“I have a big ole hole and I haven’t started to process it,” Danson admitted on the latest episode of his Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast. Joined by Ted Lasso star Brett Goldstein, Danson then opened up about the day he learned of Wendt’s death.

“I had just seen [Wendt’s wife] Bernadette recently. So, anyway, I was in the middle of working and I had to squelch. Had a little cry and then had to like, move on,” Danson shared. “So I haven’t really caught up with it. So when you ask me something, I may tear up.”

That said, Danson noted that he feels “totally complete with George” and doesn’t “have any regrets.”

After sharing the screen for 11 seasons, Danson and Wendt remained good friends in the years after Cheers ended, and even reunited for an episode of Danson and Woody Harrelson’s podcast in 2024.

“Oh my god, what an amazing man,” Danson continued. “What a funny, unbelievable actor. I could sit there and watch and laugh and will continue to for a very long time. So celebratory-ness is called for as well, even though I will miss him, and I can’t imagine what it’s like for Bernadette and his kids.”

Wendt died of cardiac arrest on May 20 at the age of 76. A TV icon, Wendt portrayed the witty, beer-guzzling Norm Peterson, a regular at the Boston bar run by Danson’s dashing bartender Sam Malone. Wendt also appeared on series like Taxi, M*A*S*H, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

Goldstein, who writes and stars in Ted Lasso alongside Wendt’s nephew Jason Sudeikis, said he was in the room when the actor learned of his uncle’s death.

“I was with Jason in the Ted Lasso writers’ room when the news came in,” he shared. “And Jason and the writers sat and watched compilations of the best of Norm and told stories. I know from Jason they’re all wonderful stories, but he was also individually so lovely to all of us at Ted Lasso.”

He explained, “He came to the premiere and it’d be like, ‘George wants to meet you.’ And be like, ‘What? George?!’ And you’d go over and he was so f—ing generous with all of us. Complimentary and lovely and you’re just like, ‘I can’t believe I’m talking to him.’ He was so very kind. We saw him a few times over the years and he was nothing but lovely.”

In the wake of Wendt’s death, Danson mourned his friend and former costar in a statement to Entertainment Weekly: “I am devastated to hear that Georgie is no longer with us. I am sending all my love to Bernadette and the children,” he wrote. “It is going to take me a long time to get used to this. I love you, Georgie.”

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly‘s free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

Sudeikis also paid tribute to his uncle earlier this month on KSHB 41: “There’s that old saying of, ‘Don’t meet your heroes,’ usually because ‘they let you down,’ I assume, is the back half of that statement. But he’s not one of those people,” the Ted Lasso star said. “He’s as fun and kind and as warm as any character he played on television or in films. He was an incredible influence to me, both as someone that blazed the trail, being from the Midwest, and teaching me that acting was a career you could actually have, if you really care about it.”

Watch Danson and Goldstein remember Wendt in the video above.