When Friends first began in 1994 it immediately captivated millions of viewers and only grew in popularity over the next decade. Despite the series ending in 2004, Friends has remained incredibly popular worldwide. Friends still generates millions of dollars each year and provides a royalty income of approximately $20 million a year between the six main cast members.
Because of its popularity, many fans hoped to see a reunion one day which would bring the cast together again. This happened in 2021 and showed that the actors still had chemistry together. This did beg the question, could a Friends revival show work today?
Friends’ Reunion Proves There’s Still An Interest In The Show
A Friends reunion had long been a pipedream for many fans of the show, hoping to see the iconic cast together one last time. Finally, in 2021 it was made a reality after having previously been delayed twice due to the pandemic. 17 years after the end of the series, all six actors were again together in Monica‘s (Courteney Cox) apartment.
The Friends reunion also proved that there is still a lot of interest in a revival of the series. TVision estimated that 29% of streaming households in the US watched the reunion on HBO Max. The show also became Sky One’s most-watched show on the channel in the UK with 5.3 million viewers. These numbers are similar to the ratings the original show would receive during its original broadcast, which shows that the franchise and brand has held its fanbase for 17 years with no new content so it is clear that a revival of Friends would be just as popular as the original series.
The Cast Are Mostly Available To Return In Full
The Friends cast will always remain in demand due to their worldwide recognition and each of them has been incredibly busy since Friends ended in 2004 after 10 seasons. Surprisingly, most of the cast appear to have fewer projects in the works right now, which does seem common as stars get older and they look to reduce their workloads. Or, it could be seen as the stars aligning for a potential reboot.
Matthew Perry has seemingly taken a step back since 2017 due to health issues. It was reported in 2018 that he had to have surgery and spent three months recovering. Perry also revealed during the Friends reunion that he was dealing with addiction issues during that time period too but thankfully is now sober and is doing good today. Matt LeBlanc has been notably absent from TV in recent years. LeBlanc left Top Gear in 2019 after three years of presenting the show and Man With A Plan was canceled in 2020. Apart from the Friends reunion and a Top Gear tribute show, LeBlanc hasn’t been on TV since 2020. Lisa Kudrow has some projects in the works, such as a role in the upcoming horror movie The Parenting, and a starring role in the new miniseries Time Bandits. Kudrow also stars in the animated series HouseBroken. Apart from that her schedule seems to be a lot lighter these days with just a few appearances in TV shows and movies each year, which could make her available for a new Friends reboot.
The other three actors have a more hectic schedule and could make a Friends reboot more difficult. David Schwimmer tends to keep himself moderately busy, with some movie and TV roles spread throughout the year. His latest works in 2023 include an appearance on Shark Tank, The Great Stand Up To Cancer Bake Off, and Extrapolations. Jennifer Aniston is pretty busy these days, regularly appearing in movies and TV shows and becoming one of the top romantic comedy actresses throughout the 2000s. Aniston has been playing the character of Audrey Spitz in the two Murder Mystery movies as well as serving as the producer for the films. She also has a main role in The Morning Show and served as its executive producer too, which will no doubt keep her occupied but she should have enough time to work on Friends too, especially considering how successful it would be.
Courteney Cox is the spanner in the works when it comes to having the time to commit to the role again, especially if a season is as long as it was during its original production. The Scream movies have recently been rebooted with 2022’s Scream and 2023’s Scream VI, however, Cox did star in the earlier movies in the series while Friends was in production. But, she is also busy with TV, with her reality show 9 Months With Courteney Cox being in production since 2019 where Cox is its host, creator, and executive producer. Cox also has a main role in Shining Vale which has been renewed for a second season and is set to star in Last Chance U as well as serve as its executive producer. Despite making a large amount of money during her time on Friends, Cox has continued working in the years since, and her calendar is regularly packed with new projects to work on.
Revivals Are All The Rage Now, And Some Have Been Done Right
Like video games and the endless remakes that are released, this has now become the case for TV and movies too. In recent years we have seen many reboots and revivals that have either helped to conclude or retell a story, such as Dexter: New Blood, or revived the brand and franchise, with notable instances being Cobra Kai and Wednesday. These shows have shown that if the franchise has a following, no matter how much time has passed there will always be an audience for it and often it can become the hottest show of its time.
Despite The Addams Family being decades removed from its peak in popularity, the worldwide brand recognition helped to pique the interest of viewers that put more eyeballs on the show for Jenna Ortega to blow them away with her performance as Wednesday, which has now created a new hit series and catapulted Ortega to stardom. As a brand, Friends is in a similar position, and even exceeding it in popularity, which would make a revival almost guaranteed to be one of the biggest successes of modern times if it was produced and released.David Schwimmer
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