‘Friends’ Co-Creator David Crane Shuts Down Reunion Rumors

Friends fans have been dreaming for years of a reunion or revival, but co-creator David Crane said it will never happen.

“Never happening. Never. We did it! It’s done,” Crane said during a panel hosted by The Wrap in Los Angeles Wednesday. “That’s why you don’t want to see more of it, because it’s all a happy ending.”

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend star Rachel Bloom, who was also on the panel, then asked Crane if Ross (David Schwimmer) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) would still be together.

“In your opinion, Ross and Rachel, how they doing?” Bloom asked.”Are they still together? Is that sustainable?”

“Yes. Come on, they worked really hard, 10 years,” Crane replied.

Crane also said Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Monica (Courteney Cox) would still be together, too. Bloom then jokingly asked where Rachel and Ross’ kid would go to college. Crane said that could be the premise for a new series, but he insisted it would never happen.

“Now we’re pitching a pilot, and we’re not doing that,” Crane told Bloom.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine showrunner Dan Goor chimed in, suggesting Ross and Rachel’s child would go to SUNY Stony Brook on Long Island.

Of course, this is not the first time one of Friends‘ creators shot down hopes for a reunion. In 2016, co-creator Marty Kauffman said the show was about “that time in your life when your friends are your family.” Once Monica and Chandler began their own family in the finale, it “was no longer about that time.”

Kauffman said fans might think a reunion would make them happy, but it would do the opposite.

“They’d all be older, and it wouldn’t be the same, and people will only end up feeling disappointed, and then I’ll be embarrassed, and it would be terrible,” she said, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

Then again, Jennifer Aniston coyly told Ellen DeGeneres in February “anything is a possibility” in a world where “George Clooney got married.”

While there may never be a real Friends reunion, Aniston and Courteney Cox remain close friends. On Thursday, they even joined forces to pay tribute to George Clooney at the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony to honor him. Cox and Aniston joked that ER was only successful because Friends was its lead-in on NBC.

“Let’s just admit it right here and now,” Cox said. “There were millions of people watching Friends that happened to stay there — too lazy to turn the channel. Without us, you’re Chicago Hope, buddy.”

Friends ran 10 seasons, from 1994 to 2000 and won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2002. The 2004 finale drew 52.5 million viewers, making it one of the top 10 most-watched finales in TV history.