Television nowadays is in an era of reboots, reunions, and revivals, and the 2017-2018 TV season proved that there's definitely an audience for classic sitcom casts to come back together for more episodes. Naturally, legions of Friends fans have wondered if there is a chance for the Central Perk group to reunite for a small screen revival. Friends co-creator David Crane weighed in on the possibility of a revival, and hopeful fans may not be very happy with what he has to say:
Never happening. Never. We did it! It's done. That's why you don't want to see more of it, because it's all a happy ending.
David Crane's comments at a panel of comedy showrunners (via The Wrap) indicate that the beloved sitcom won't return to the airwaves with new episodes at any point. He's not the only person from the show to debunk the possibility of a revival, although his reasons are different. Co-creator Marta Kauffman has stated that the show was about a time in life when friends are family; given that the finale ended with the friends working on their own families, their priorities would be different if the show returned. Short of Friends pulling a Will and Grace and just pretending that the original ending never happened, a revival almost certainly wouldn't deliver what fans are looking for.
Jennifer Aniston, who of course played Rachel on all ten seasons of Friends, also has said that a Friends revival wouldn't work, although her reasoning is that Friends took place in an era without cell phones and social media. The show was about friends in a coffee shop or unrealistically large New York City apartment having conversations without checking their phones, and that's not something that would ring true nowadays. Basically, Friends fans should probably give up on a revival ever happening.
That said, David Crane was willing to answer one of the big questions that fans would undoubtedly be asking of a revival: did Ross and Rachel stay together, or was their relationship too tumultuous to survive in the long run? Here's how Crane settled the question:
Yes. Come on, they worked really hard, ten years.
Well, they certainly did work hard, but it wasn't always fun to watch. As much as Ross and Rachel's relationship has become one of the most famous (or infamous) aspects of the show, the years since the show left the air have seen some fans convert to becoming fans of Joey and Rachel as a couple. At the end of the day, Monica and Chandler were the healthiest couple of the series, and David Crane promised that they were doing just fine as well, presumably without going on any breaks.
If you want to relive the glory days of Friends, all ten seasons are currently available streaming on Netflix. For more viewing options, check out our 2018 Netflix premiere guide and our summer TV premiere schedule.
