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'Dawson's Creek' is heading to Netflix (but without its original theme song)

The teen drama premieres on Netflix on Nov. 1, but you won't want to wait to hear Paula Cole's iconic theme.
/ Source: TODAY

"Dawson's Creek" is heading to Netflix — but don't expect to hear the show's iconic theme song, "I Don't Want to Wait" by Paula Cole.

The popular teen drama debuted in January 1998 on the WB and ran for six seasons, launching the careers of Hollywood stars Katie Holmes, James Van Der Beek, Joshua Jackson and future four-time Oscar nominee Michelle Williams.

Netflix announced Monday that the series will premiere on Nov. 1, but gave fans the heads up that they won't hear its instantly memorable theme song, a Billboard hit for Cole in 1997.

The streaming service confirmed to TODAY that viewers will instead hear Canadian musician Jann Arden’s "Run Like Mad" during the intro.

Arden's song replaced Cole's as the theme in the series' DVD and streaming releases due to rights issues.

The cast of television's 'Dawson's Creek' poses for a photo in 1997. From left to right are Katie Holmes, James Van Der Beek, Michelle Williams, and Joshua Jackson. (Photo by Warner Bros.)
The cast of television's "Dawson's Creek" in 1997 (L-R): Katie Holmes, James Van Der Beek, Michelle Williams and Joshua Jackson. Warner Bros. / Getty Images

Though Arden's song feels less nostalgic, it turns out it was meant all along to be the "Dawson's Creek" theme. Paul Stupin, one of the show's producers, told the Huffington Post in 2012 that he personally asked Arden to record a new tune for the show in 1997.

But, shortly before the series debuted, the WB released a series of promo commercials featuring various pop songs. WB execs liked the one featuring "I Don't Want to Wait" so much, the network reached out to Cole and made a deal.

Stupin went on to explain that low sales for the original DVD release of the series led Sony to use Arden’s song across all future releases as a cost-saving measure.

For her part, Cole was bummed out that "I Don't Want to Wait" was replaced because of "corporate greed."

"It hits that painful chord — they stopped using my song and at this point, part of me would like for them to use my song again because there's cachet to having your song used on a TV show," she told the Huffington Post in 2018.

But one of the show's stars may be glad to be done with "I Don't Want to Wait" for good.

"I have a complicated relationship with that song," Van Der Beek told the Guardian in 2017, explaining that the song triggered flashbacks of being mobbed by fans.

"If I was at karaoke and it started playing there’s a part of me — and I'm a f------ grown-ass man with four kids — that still wants to go hide under the table."