Suri Cruise’s sweet prom moment sparks Joey Potter deja vu for Dawson’s Creek fans… 21 years after mom Katie Holmes starred in hit show

Suri Cruise gave Dawson’s Creek fans deja vu as she attended her high school senior prom in New York City this week.

Her mom Katie Holmes, 45, famously played the role of Joey Potter on the hit teen drama on The WB that aired for six seasons from 1998 to 2003.

Suri, 18, looked like the spitting image of Katie as she posed for photos with her prom date Toby Cohen — as identified by DailyMail.com — before hopping into an SUV with her friends.

The photos immediately reminded fans of the iconic Dawson’s Creek episode in season three where Joey goes to prom with James Van Der Beek’s Dawson Leery.

In episode 22, titled ‘The Anti-Prom,’ Joey throws together a special prom for her Capeside High classmates and Dawson takes her as his date amid a love triangle with Joshua Jackson’s Pacey Witter.

Like Suri, Joey’s prom look featured a spaghetti strap dress, minimal jewelry and a classic 90s lip.

The episode aired back on May 17, 2000 – nearly six years before Suri was born on April 18, 2006.

The teenager headed to her senior prom on Tuesday night but was first seen hanging out outside the Ascent Lounge with her prom party before loading into a waiting car, as per photos obtained by DailyMail.com.

She appeared to be in a great mood as she smiled plenty while chatting up her friends, including date Toby, a fellow high school graduate and budding musician who appears to have accompanied the teen to the milestone event as her date.

Toby attended LaGuardia High School alongside Suri and is set to attend the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston in the Fall, while Suri will head off to Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. 

There appeared to be no sign of Holmes but there was a woman in a black coat taking photographs of Suri, who turned 18 in April. 

Meanwhile, her estranged actor father Tom Cruise was last seen flying a helicopter in London where he has been spending much of his time lately.

For her senior prom, Suri looked stunning in a floral print corset-style dress with a maroon piping.

The dancer added high-heeled gold strappy shoes as she went bare legged for the milestone event in NYC.

Suri had a purple flower corsage on her wrist from her prom date Toby, revealing that the teen was following with tradition.

She wore her hair parted in the middle and down in soft summer waves.

There were hints that Suri was going to attend prom this summer as she was seen looking at dresses three weeks ago in New York City. The star was spotted at a dress shop in lower Manhattan.

But the dress could belong to her fashion minded mother Katie, who recently shared that her only child often ‘steals’ clothing out of her closet. Holmes is known for wearing designer gowns from her pals like Zac Posen.

Cruise has also hinted where she will attend college as she wore a Carnegie Mellon University sweatshirt in early June.

DailyMail.com exclusively revealed she has been accepted into Pittsburgh’s prestigious Carnegie Mellon University – which is about a two-hour flight, or a nine-hour drive from Berklee, where Toby will be studying.

Suri revealed her Tartan pride in a playful TikTok where she and her friends each wore their chosen college’s sweatshirt and revealed the name to the camera.

Suri, whose famous father has had no part in her upbringing, has always been determined to forge her own way.

She applied to a host of colleges with the artistic teen ‘leaning towards’ studying fashion.

Carnegie Mellon’s School of Design is one of the oldest and most highly ranked programs in the country.

Now, with her acceptance into its hallowed halls, a notably chic mother and a wardrobe said to be worth $5million, Suri is off to the best possible start if that is her chosen path.

One insider told DailyMail.com: ‘She is a smart girl, and she is turning into a very intelligent mature young woman. She has a very close group of loyal friends, and she knows exactly where she comes from.’

But though Holmes will surely be proud of her daughter’s stellar achievement sources say she is ‘overwhelmed’ at the thought of sending her little girl off to college.

Speaking recently, one told DailyMail.com: ‘Katie takes great pride in her but is also extremely overprotective.’

Perhaps it’s little wonder given that, for the past 11 years, Holmes has effectively raised Suri solo.

Sixty-one-year-old Cruise’s only input to his daughter’s life has been financial and he hasn’t been seen with his daughter since 2013, after Holmes quit both the marriage and the Church of Scientology – the religion to which Cruise is so devoted.

According to their divorce settlement, Cruise agreed to pay Holmes $400,000 a year until Suri turned 18 and will continue to pay for her college fees as well.

Under the terms of their agreement, though he may be physically absent from his daughter’s life, he has and will continue to cover, ‘medical, dental, insurance, education, college and other extracurricular costs.’

But despite having little if any relationship with her dad, Suri is, according to sources, a happy and well-adjusted teen who has loved growing up in New York City.

Holmes and Cruise had reportedly been keen to co-parent when they initially divorced in 2012.

But Cruise’s religion proved a bar to any continued contact with his ex-wife and child, just as it did to his former spouse, Nicole Kidman.

The 56-year-old actress has had no relationship with the son and daughter that she and Cruise adopted since she left the Church of Scientology, and they remained in it.

Non-believers are deemed ‘suppressive’ by Scientologists and despite the Church’s official denials multiple former Scientologists speak of being forbidden from having any continued relationship with people who have left the Church, regardless of the nature of their relationship.