More than two decades after Friends came to an end, the cast’s real life friendships are still going strong.
The hit NBC sitcom premiered in 1994 and ran for 10 seasons before the series finale aired on May 6, 2004. Friends followed the lives of six close friends in their 20s and 30s, navigating their relationships, careers and friendships in New York City.
The fan-favorite characters included Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston), Monica Geller, (Courteney Cox), Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow), Ross Geller (David Schwimmer), Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) and Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc).
The ups and downs of their on-screen friendships are what defined the show, and their bonds have crossed over into real life, too — though their most recent reunions have had to take place without Perry, who died of acute effects of ketamine on Oct. 28, 2023.
During a 2024 appearance on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Kudrow said that being friends off-screen has taken effort on everyone’s part.
“It was great, we really did get along,” she said. “We also worked hard at being friends. That six-way relationship took some work and we did it.”
From guest-starring on each other’s new projects to showing support at premieres or just having a ladies’ night, the gang has proved that they’re still there for each other, just like they were before.
Here, see photos from some of the sweetest Friends reunions, 21 years after the series finale aired.
The One Where They Wore Merch
In April 2022, Aniston and Cox posted a brief clip of themselves in some new merchandise from a line that features iconic moments from the last four seasons of their hit ’90s sitcom.
In the clip, the pals can be seen wearing tops that say “Friends Forever” surrounded by six keys, symbolizing the final moment of the series in which all six friends left behind their keys when Monica and Chandler moved out of their apartment.
“Friends forever ❤️link in bio 👩🏼🤝👩🏻@americares @ebmrf,” Aniston and Cox captioned the joint Instagram post. Cox shared a similar post, reminding her followers that this is the “final drop.”
The two organizations tagged in the post are Americares, a global nonprofit that donates medicine and medical supplies; and EBMRF, a charity that raises awareness and funds a cure for Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) — a rare genetic skin disorder.
The One with the Reunion!
Finally! The six stars were overcome with emotion to return to Stage 24 at Warner Bros. studios for the long-awaited, on-screen reunion in May 2021.
Stepping back onto a soundstage, Aniston, Cox, Kudrow, LeBlanc, Perry and Schwimmer were taken aback by the sight of the meticulously recreated world they hadn’t visited in 17 years: Joey and Chandler’s bachelor pad, Monica and Rachel’s apartment and even Central Perk, where the thrift-store-find orange couch was always reserved for them.
“I was flooded with 10 years of irreplaceable memories,” Cox told PEOPLE of the rush of emotions.
“It’s funny, when we do get together, it’s like no time has passed,” LeBlanc echoed. “We pick up right where we left off.”
The One with a Viewing Party
Favorite shows are better with friends. Kudrow and Schwimmer — otherwise known as Phoebe and Ross — got together to watch the highly anticipated Friends reunion special, which premiered May 27 on HBO Max.
The viewing party tugged at the heartstrings of their costars, who reacted in the comments section.
“Love you two so much! ❤️,” wrote Aniston.
“Awww I love you guy[s]!!!” Cox added with a string of heart emojis.
The One with Carpool Karaoke
Following the reunion, James Corden surprised Friends fans with never-before-seen footage of an impromptu carpool karaoke session with the six longtime costars.
Singing their hearts out in a golf cart en route to the Warner Bros. soundstage, the group belted out “I’ll Be There for You” by The Rembrandts, the theme song from their hit sitcom.
“What about that for a trip down memory lane?” the host asked once they wrapped, to which Cox exclaimed, “I always wanted to do Carpool Karaoke!”
The One with the Lifelong Roommates
Friends forever! During the 72nd annual Emmy Awards on Sept. 20, 2020, nominee Aniston was joined by pals Cox and Kudrow as she tuned in virtually to chat with host Jimmy Kimmel.
When Kimmel noticed Cox next to Aniston — who earned a nomination for her leading role in The Morning Show — the former Friends star told him, “of course I’m here, we live together.”
“We’ve been roommates since 1994, Jimmy,” Aniston joked, referring to the year the NBC comedy premiered.
The One with the Pool Table
Real life BFFs Cox and Aniston let their competitive sides shine over a game of pool — during which Cox quickly proved her prowess, while the Morning Show star hilariously tried to keep up.
The One with the ‘Girls Across the Hall’
Aniston, Cox and Kudrow reunited for an all-girl bite in January 2020 and posted evidence of the hangout on Instagram.
“Hi from the girls across the hall 👋🏼,” Aniston captioned the adorable snap.
Kudrow posted her own photos from the girls’ night, captioning her pics with her gal pals, “Bliss. And more bliss #goodgirlfriends.”
The One with a Lunch Date
Former on-screen love interests Cox and Perry reminded the world they were still real-life pals as they shared a smiling selfie in 2019.
“Guess who I had lunch with today….I KNOW!! Could I BE any happier? #realfriends,” Cox captioned the snap, including the catchphrases of their two characters, Monica and Chandler.
Fellow Friends alumni chimed in on the shot, with Kudrow commenting, “Lucky lucky. #beautifulpeople,” and a delighted Aniston showing off her newfound love for Instagram, writing, “MATTY!! ❤️❤️❤️ I LOVE YOU, GUYS.”
The One Where Rachel Gets Honored
Double-reunion day! After lunch with Perry, Cox joined Kudrow to present BFF Aniston with the Artists Inspiration Award during the SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s 4th annual Patron of the Artists Awards in Beverly Hills in November 2019.
The One When Rachel Gets Instagram!
Aniston nearly broke the Internet when she at long last made the decision to join Instagram on Oct. 15, 2019, making her debut on the platform with the first full Friends cast photo since the show went off the air.
“And now we’re Instagram FRIENDS too,” the actress captioned the group selfie. “HI INSTAGRAM 👋🏻.”
The One with the Soft Smiles
Earlier in October, Aniston got together with pals Cox and LeBlanc for what Cox described as “a rare night.”
Shortly after Aniston made her Instagram debut, she made herself known on her Friends‘ pages, writing on Cox’s post, “A rare comment and I love YOU.”
The One with the Fireworks
Cox and Aniston’s time as on-screen Friends Monica and Rachel set the stage for their relationship as real-life besties.
While the duo were part of a particularly insular friend group on the show, they’ve made a number of gal pals off-screen, and over the Fourth of July in 2019 they all got together to celebrate (and snap a selfie!) with some other familiar faces: Big Little Lies star Laura Dern, the late Suzanne Somers and jewelry designer Jennifer Meyer.
Fellow former costar Kudrow commented on the cuteness, writing, “Awww. Happy 4th!”
The One with the Girls’ Night
After a decade of playing a motley crew who seemed to spend all their waking hours together, a girls’ night is definitely in order for Cox, Aniston and Kudrow every now and again.
While the gang tended to gather at Monica’s (when they weren’t over-caffeinating at Central Perk), it seems like Cox’s house is often the home base for their off-screen get-togethers.
The One Where Monica Grows Up
Here’s hoping that Cox’s 55th birthday went more smoothly than Monica’s 30th, when Phoebe offered to flash the guests to distract Monica’s parents from how drunk their “grown-up” daughter was at her party.
Kudrow and Aniston instead showed their support for the birthday girl by joining in on her special day. “How lucky am I to celebrate my birthday with these two??? I love you girls. So much,” Cox captioned a selfie of the trio.
“LOVE you girls! Happy happy Court,” Kudrow commented.
The One Where Phoebe Sees Too Much
“My eyes! My eyes!” Kudrow captioned a selfie of her and Cox tearing up with laughter.
The pair joking about the quote is enough to make any fan chuckle as they remember Phoebe shouting it out when she and Rachel accidentally discovered Monica and Chandler hooking up.
The One Where Rachel Goes to Cougar Town
The BFFs reunited on-screen once again when Aniston guest-starred on the season 2 premiere of Cougar Town, which Cox co-executive produced and starred in.
Though their roles were entirely different — Aniston played Glenn, Jules’ (Cox) new therapist, whom she quickly bonds with before realizing her methods are questionable at best — it’s hard not to see a glimmer of Monica and Rachel whenever the two are together.
The One Where The Bings Reunite
Nearly a decade after playing Chandler, Monica’s goofy, not quite “boyfriend material” best-friend-turned-husband, Perry set fans’ hearts aflutter with this cuddly snapshot of him and Cox from when she guest-starred as a potential love interest on his show Go On in 2013.
Her character turned out to be a less-than-ideal match, but fans were still delighted to see Monica and Chandler back together.
“Some ladies can even make a cemetery look good. Thanks for joining us CC!” Perry affectionately captioned the shot on X.
The One Where Joey and Phoebe End Up Together
Despite the sporadic kisses they exchanged and their quirky compatibility, the couple that everyone shipped did not end up together on the show — but Kudrow and LeBlanc gifted Phoey-shippers with this cuddly photo at Showtime’s 2012 Summer TCA Party.
The pair previously admitted to PEOPLE that they wouldn’t have been opposed to a relationship between their characters — in fact, they actually suggested it.
“Towards the end we actually pitched the idea that Joey and Phoebe had been having casual sex the entire time,” LeBlanc said. “We’d go back and shoot all the historical scenes and just before a moment that everyone recognizes, there’s Joey and Phoebe coming out of a broom closet together. But they were like, ‘Nah.’ ”
The One Where Ross Goes to Therapy
Kudrow’s improvised online series Web Therapy, which first began in 2008 before getting picked up by Showtime from 2011 to 2015, introduced her as Fiona Wallice, an Internet therapist with an unplaceable accent and various eccentricities that make it easy to imagine her as Phoebe’s alter-ego.
This makes it all the more hilarious when she’s tasked with analyzing former Friends castmate Schwimmer’s recurring character Newell Miller, who stalks her in an attempt to understand his childhood trauma caused by her affair with his father.
Perry and LeBlanc also guest-starred in other episodes, gifting us with brief reunions of our favorite pals.
The One Where the Casts Collide
The gang’s (almost) all here! While Perry was working on a production in London, Schwimmer, LeBlanc, Aniston, Cox and Kudrow got together with the cast of another long-running sitcom, The Big Bang Theory.
The cast collision took place in January 2016 at the recording of NBC’s Must See TV: A Tribute to James Burrows, in honor of Burrows, who directed both series.
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