Friends without Jennifer Aniston? This is how it nearly happened...

But what about Ross and Rachel?!

Friends Jennifer Aniston

Friends without Jennifer Aniston? It's not even worth thinking about. But, it very nearly happened. Brace yourself for some mind-altering news....

She may not be the UK's favourite Friends character, but the Rachel Green we know and love almost didn’t happen for two reasons. The first being Jane Krakowski.

Before her scene stealing roles in Ally McBeal, 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Krakowski was up for the part of Rachel. And it seems like she wasn’t the only one up for the highly coveted role. 

Jane Krakowski

(Image credit: Taylor Hill / Getty)

"Well, I, like almost every actor in the world, auditioned for Friends," she said. 

"I wish I had gotten that one. I actually auditioned for Rachel, and I didn't go very far." 

Yes, the award-winning actress isn’t even sure that she got a callback. Although we're sure she got over it quickly, seeing as reviewers hated Friends when it first aired.

Then there was the fact that the actress was nearly replaced very early on in the Friends journey because she had already agreed to star in another sitcom called Muddling Through.

Speaking about the part that almost never was, Jen An said: "So there was a period where I had to stand out of the photographs for the group shots, and I had phone calls from girlfriends saying, 'I'm auditioning for your part in Friends.'

"They just took the chance that Muddling Through would fail after the [ten] episodes they picked it up for, and so I just started doing this back-and-forth from Sony to Warner Bros for two weeks."

Jen also spoke about reports that the producers for Friends originally wanted her to play Monica Geller.

"They wanted Courteney [Cox] to play Rachel," the Cake actress said.

"And unbeknownst to each other, I wanted to play Rachel and she wanted to play Monica. It worked out perfectly."

So, now you know!

Jadie Troy-Pryde
News Editor

Jadie Troy-Pryde is News Editor, covering celebrity and entertainment, royal, lifestyle and viral news. Before joining the team in 2018 as the Lifestyle and Social Media Editor, she worked at a number of women’s fashion and lifestyle titles including Grazia, Women’s Health and Stylist, and now heads the Marie Claire UK news desk.