It’s been 17 years since we last saw our favourite Friends characters on screen together, and with the cast set to reunite on an upcoming TV retrospective, we’ve been dying to find out what the actors think their fictional counterparts would be up to now. 

Well, we now have some answers, as Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer have given us the lowdown on what they reckon has happened to the gang in the intervening years. 

The actors spilled the beans in a new interview with People magazine, previewing the upcoming reunion, which is set to debut in the US on 27 May. 

Here’s what they had to say… 

Rachel Green 

Jennifer Aniston says she would to see Rachel still working in fashion, having now started her own clothing line. 

“It’s sort of a small franchise, like a Nili Lotan. And I live in New York City on the Upper East Side,” Jen imagines. 

Monica Geller

Courteney Cox believes Monica’s competitiveness wouldn’t have mellowed in middle age and that she would be “doing something competitively with other mothers and trying to outdo them”. 

“Whether it’s the bake sale at school or something,” she says. “I mean, she’d be so annoying. She’d be at the head of the PTA or something.”

Phoebe Buffay

Lisa Kudrow reckons Phoebe would still be married to Mike Hannigan (Paul Rudd) and they would have moved away from New York, to settle in Connecticut with their children. 

“She’s in charge of the arts program for the school,” Lisa says. “And the advocate for her kids because they’re different like she was.”

Chandler Bing

Matthew Perry believes Chandler would be “a wonderful father”, having had twins with Monica at the end of the series. 

He also believes the character would have had another change of career, and would now be “a wonderful comedy writer”.

Joey Tribbiani 

While we got a glimpse of post-Friends life for Joey in the ill-fated spin-off series Joey, which saw him try and make it as an actor in LA, Matt reckons his character has had a humbler life since. 

People magazine have also obtained the first official images from the unscripted special, one of which shows the gang playing the epic trivia game from season four, which saw Joey and Chandler win Monica and Rachel’s apartment. 

Another image shows them sat down to do a table read of part of The One with The Jellyfish episode. 

Last week, it was announced that the cast will be joined by a host of special guests, including James Michael Tyler and Maggie Wheeler – better known as Gunther and Janice.

Joining them will be Elliott Gould and Christina Pickles (who played Monica and Ross’ parents, Jack and Judy Geller), Reese Witherspoon (who co-starred as Rachel’s sister in two episodes of the sitcom) and Tom Selleck (who played Monica’s love interest, Richard).

Also appearing in the show will be a string of famous Friends fans, who include Lady Gaga, David Beckham, Malala Yousafzai, James Corden, Justin Bieber and Cindy Crawford.

The Friends reunion will be available to stream on HBO Max in the US from 27 May, exactly a year after it was supposed to launch, before the pandemic scuppered plans to begin production.

It’s still not clear exactly when or how British fans will be able to watch, but HBO productions typically come to Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK.

Read the full cover interview with the cast of Friends in the latest issue of People magazine, available in the US on Friday, or read an excerpt here.  

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