James Van Der Beek’s Final Curtain Call: Actor Stars as Villian in Chilling Final Role

Just one week after the world said goodbye to James Van Der Beek, fans are seeing him in a startling new light — as a chilling villain in one of his final screen performances.

The late actor, who died February 11 at 48 after a battle with stage 3 colorectal cancer, appears in the newly released trailer for The Gates, a thriller that now stands as a haunting coda to a career cut short.

On February 18, Lionsgate unveiled the trailer for The Gates, set for theatrical release March 13. The film stars Mason Gooding, Algee Smith and Keith Powers as three college friends whose “road trip gone wrong” leads them into a remote gated community where they witness a murder.

Van Der Beek plays a sinister pastor described in the film’s synopsis as “the cunning patriarch that holds the entire community under his influence.” After the trio unknowingly drive into the neighborhood, they find themselves “blamed, hunted and fractured by their own differing belief systems,” with Van Der Beek’s character emerging as the calculating force behind the terror.

The role marks a striking departure from the earnest Dawson Leery he portrayed on Dawson’s Creek, the WB teen drama that premiered in 1998 and catapulted Van Der Beek to stardom.

Van Der Beek revealed in November 2024 that he had been “privately dealing” with stage 3 colorectal cancer since August 2023.

Despite his diagnosis, he continued working, appearing in three Tubi originals — Sidelined: The QB and Me, Sidelined: Rewind with Noah and Siena and Sidelined 2: Intercepted — along with TV roles in Walker, Overcompensating and the upcoming Legally Blonde prequel series Elle.

After news of his death, tributes poured in from former co-stars and friends. Katie Holmes wrote, “To share space with your imagination is sacred — breathing the same air in the land of make believe and trusting that each others’ hearts are safe in their expression...” Busy Philipps called him “one in a billion,” while filmmaker Kevin Smith remembered him as “the generous, funny, warm, self-effacing superstar who twice helped me make my dreams come true.”

The official “Dawson’s Creek” account declared that his “iconic portrayal of Dawson Leery helped define a generation of television.”

In the wake of his passing, a GoFundMe launched to support his wife Kimberly and their six children raised more than $1 million within 24 hours, with over 20,000 donors contributing. Kimberly thanked supporters, writing, “With gratitude and a broken heart.”

Van Der Beek’s final Instagram post announced he had “met his final days with courage, faith, and grace,” adding, “For now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother, and friend.”

With The Gates, audiences will see him one last time — not as the dreamer on the dock, but as a formidable antagonist. It’s a reminder of his range, his resilience and the enduring mark he leaves behind.