10 Ways Friends Was Almost Completely Different

Of the Friends cast, the one person who didn't have to audition for their part was David Schwimmer. Having already been impressed by him on a different project a year prior, the producers of Friends always had Scwhimmer in mind to play Ross Gellar.

The rest of the cast had to go through the standard audition process to land their roles, and if things had been different then we could've had a Joey and Chandler who were played by This Is Spinal Tap's Hank Azaria and MCU favourite Jon Favreau.

Azaria auditioned twice for Joey, but ultimately came up short in his quest to play the character. Likewise, Favreau was up for the Chandler gig, and certain reports claim that he ended up actually turning down that role before it ultimately went to Matthew Perry.

Both Hank Azaria and Jon Favreau would still make an impression on Friends, mind, for Azaria would end up playing Phoebe's one-time boyfriend David, and Favreau landed the role of Pete Becker - the boyfriend of Monica who opted to seek a career in the UFC.

Interestingly, the producers decided against casting Matt LeBlanc as Joey, and it was instead a studio call to give LeBlanc the job.