10 Ways Friends Was Almost Completely Different

8. Phoebe And Chandler Were Designed As Supporting Characters

Courteney Cox Friends Monica Rachel
NBC

It's absolutely impossible to think of Friends as anything but being about the six characters spotlighted across the show's ten-season run.

When looking for a perfect example of how to truly balance an ensemble cast, Friends is indeed that perfect example. No one character ever felt marginalised or short-changed when it came to spreading out the screen time, the great lines, or the episode-driving plot points of Friends.

All of this, then, makes it unbelievable to think that Friends was initially meant to be based around just the four of Rachel, Ross, Monica and Joey.

As has been discussed by several cast members of the years, the formative plan for Friends was for the characters of Phoebe and Chandler to merely be supporting players while the tales of the other four played out. To think that these two mainstay favourites could have been relegated to the same amount of screen time as a Gunther, as the Geller parents, or even Janice is completely insane.

Thankfully, changes were made and Phoebe and Chandler were deemed to be just as pivotal a piece of the Friends puzzle as Rachel, Ross, Monica and Joey.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.