Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer's Long Embrace Despite Calling 'Cut' at Final Shoot of 'Friends'
The behind-the-scenes work involved in setting up the Friends finale was complex. Marta Kauffman claimed that the cast and crew had no idea how many seasons the show had left, and that in the final few years, it seemed like every season could have been the final one; this started happening in season 7 and continued until the last season of the show. As reported by The Things, there were certain 'rules' in place for the final episode behind the scenes. Among these was the reconciliation of Ross and Rachel, played by David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston, on Friends.
After ten years on the air, the Friends series finale drew 52.5 million viewers, making it the fourth biggest television broadcast ever. When filming the series finale, Aniston, like the rest of the ensemble, experienced a wide range of emotions. An iconic moment occurs in the show when Rachel returns to Ross' apartment after disembarking from her flight to Paris. The cast hugged each other even when filming concluded, much to the delight of the live audience.
Aniston discussed her feelings about Friends' cancellation in a recent appearance on The Ellen Show. The actress who portrayed Rachel Green opened up about how the series finale coincided with the breakdown of her marriage and how she immediately sought professional help. To reference her part in The Break-Up, Aniston laughs that once Friends ended, she "leaned into the end," and she confessed that she used the end of the show as a chance to start again. She said, "I just was like, you know what guys, let's just put this... let's make this a completely new chapter. Let's end everything. Let's just end everything and then start new. And I mean, it worked great."
Although Friends co-creator David Crane acknowledged that there could be alternate outcomes in which Ross and Rachel did not end up together, he claimed that these scenarios were challenging to implement because the cast, crew, and fans saw the relationship as the series' conclusion. As per EW, Crane said, "We thought, 'No, if we're going to do it, let's do it.' It's the nature of our show. It's not a show about grays. Let's deliver not just what the audience wants, but what we want, which was to see them finally together."
The cast of Friends reunited in 2021 for a much-anticipated reunion, during which they discussed where their characters' lives had taken them. David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston planned out the activities that Ross and Rachel would participate in. Aniston remarked about the on-screen relationship, "Let's say we get married. We end up getting married, and we had some kids, and you still are playing with bones." And no one would really be surprised that Ross would still be a paleontologist, even after all these years.
