‘It should be preserved as it is': Friends creator shuts down idea of a return

One of the Friends creators has shut down the idea of a return for the sitcom, hailing it to be “preserved as it is.”

David Crane, co-creator of the hit series alongside Marta Kauffman, has told how he cannot see the series being rehashed.

The hit series, about a group of six friends in their 20s, living in New York saw global success when it first aired in 1994.

Crane told the Press Association: “We did it, and it’s done, we put a bow on Friends and you know, if you want to watch Friends now, it’s still on television.”

“Right now, it’s preserved exactly as it should be.

“You don’t want a bunch of people in their 50s in the coffee house!”

After friends ended in 2004, Crane went on to co-create comedy series Episodes, which starred Matt LeBlanc as a fictionalised version of himself years after rising to fame in Friends as Joey Tribbiani.

The five-series show was about a pair of British writers who go to Hollywood to create an American version of their TV show.

Crane co-created Episodes with Crane’s partner Jeffery Klarik, who both admitted they could see being revisited in the future.

Klarik said: “I think that, unlike Friends, it could be revisited, sure.”

Crane added: “Unlike Friends – which was about a finite period of time in your life in your 20s – these characters can mature and it doesn’t hurt what the essence of the show is about.”

Klarik also told how audiences would be disappointed if Friends did make a comeback.

He continued: “The irony is, people think that’s what they want and you just know… it’s like going to your high school reunion, it’s such a disappointment. You’re like, ‘Oh my God, what happened to her?’”

The news comes after LeBlanc revealed he was uninterested in reprising his role in the show.