Lisa Kudrow Says She'd 'Like to See' a 'Friends' Reboot Only if They Recast the Original Characters

While Lisa Kudrow may not be up for reprising her role as Phoebe Buffay, she said she'd be interested to see a new generation of actors take on Friends

By

Kelly Wynne

Published on March 18, 2022 03:26 PM

Lisa Kudrow isn't ruling out a Friends reboot — however, she's not signing on for one, either.

The actress, who portrayed Phoebe Buffay on the beloved sitcom, said there could be a Friends reboot in the future if the series decided to recast the original characters.

"I don't think there's going to be a Friends reboot," she told Where Is the Buzz. "I mean, not with any of us in it."

"But a reboot... [if] they hire other actors? I would like to see that," Kudrow, 58, added. "I would love to see what the now-version of that would be."

While Hollywood continues to revive and reboot some classic 2000s series — HBO revived Sex and the City with And Just Like That... and Hulu rebooted How I Met Your Mother with How I Met Your Father — the cast of Friends has been hesitant to show interest in a formal revival.

The original six cast members — Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Kudrow — did come together in May 2021 for HBO's Friends: The Reunion, where they revisited the sets and divulged stories about their time filming the classic sitcom.

"It's funny: when we do get together, it's like no time has passed," LeBlanc, 54, told PEOPLE at the time. "We pick up right where we left off."

Even though the reunion brought much happiness and nostalgia, it was also filled with emotional moments.

"I think we were just so naive walking into it, thinking, 'How fun is this going to be? They're putting the sets back together, exactly as they were,'" Aniston, 53, told The Hollywood Reporter in December. "Then you get there and it's like, 'Oh right, I hadn't thought about what was going on the last time I was actually here.'"

She added that she left the filming a few times due to heightened emotions around the experience. "It was all very jarring and, of course, you've got cameras everywhere and I'm already a little emotionally accessible, I guess you could say, so I had to walk out at certain points," Aniston admitted. "I don't know how they cut around it."

RELATED: 'Friends' Reunion Exclusive! The Cast Reflects on the Beloved Show Before "Emotional" HBO Max Special

She wasn't the only cast member who felt intense emotions while revisiting their past. Cox, 56, told PEOPLE in a May 2021 cover story that she "was flooded with 10 years of irreplaceable memories" while returning to the Friends soundstage.

"It was kind of melancholy, I guess," LeBlanc said, as Kudrow agreed: "Yeah, emotional."

Aniston also noted on Rob Lowe's podcast Literally! With Rob Lowe in September, "There was a period where we were all kind of in a puddle. Maybe David didn't, I don't think we broke David."

During the 2021 HBO reunion, Kudrow also said that the show's original writers, Marta Cox and David Crane, probably wouldn't return, either.

"I once heard them say, and I completely agree, that they ended the show very nicely. Everyone's lives are very nice," she said. "They would have to unravel all those good things in order for there to be stories. I don't want anyone's happy ending unraveled."