Friends star David Schwimmer to join Will & Grace cast

David Schwimmer has been given a recurring role on Will & Grace. Photo / AP

Friends star David Schwimmer is returning to Thursday night primetime on NBC.

The actor, who found fame as Ross on the "Must-See TV" sitcom, has been given a recurring guest role on the Peacock network's revived comedy Will & Grace.

Schwimmer, 51, will play the new love interest of Debra Messing's character Grace, it was announced Wednesday.

It will be the actor's first appearance on network primetime TV since Friends went off the air in 2004/

He has starred on cable though - most notably as Robert Kardashian in FX's American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson and in AMC's one-season drama Feed the Beast.

Schwimmer is the latest high-profile name to join Will & Grace that returned to the small screen last season.

Will & Grace returned to our screens in 2017. Photo / Supplied

Alec Baldwin and Mary McCormack will be returning for the second season of the revival and Chelsea Handler has just been filming a guest role, sharing a selfie with the cast from the set.

The comedy went off the air in 2006 after eight seasons and returned in the fall of 2017 with all four original castmembers - Messing, Eric McCormack, Megan Mulally and Sean Hayes.

The first season finale left roommates Grace and Will in existential crisis over the engagement of their parents, played by Robert Klein and Blythe Danner, according to THR.com.

Speaking about plans for the second season, co-creator Max Mutchnick told the Hollywood Reporter more celebrity guest stars would be showing up on screen.

"Once they're on the show and when they fit in as well as they do, we hope to see these people over and over again because we feel like the audience likes it as much as we do," Mutchnik said.

Will & Grace, nominated for five Emmys at next month's awards show, is set to return on October 4 on NBC.