Friends co-creator reveals ending originally planned for Phoebe - NEWS.com.au

One of the creators of Friends has revealed that things could have gone very differently for Phoebe Buffay in the final episodes of the series.

While the romantic conclusion aired to viewers saw the lovably quirky character played by Lisa Kudrow tie the know with Paul Rudd’s Mike, the sitcom’s co-creator David Crane recently revealed Phoebe very nearly ended up with David, played by Hank Azaria.

“There was definitely a possibility of that,” Crane, 62, told RadioTimes this week. “I mean, we didn’t definitively know (who she’d end up with).”

“They’re both amazing actors. I mean, both Paul and Hank are fantastic, and fantastic with her. We sort of went back and forth,” he added.

Phoebe met David, also called “the Scientist Guy”, early on in the series, but the two split when he moved to Minsk, Russia for a three-year research trip.

He returned years later and attempted to win Phoebe back, but she had already struck up a romance with Mike.

David then proposed to Phoebe, but she turned him down for Mike, who she eventually married in “The One with Phoebe’s Wedding”.

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Speaking about the decision to go with Phoebe and Mike in the end, not Phoebe and David, Crane said it could have gone either way.

“I don’t even remember all the pieces that led to where we landed, but yeah, it could have gone the other way,” Crane said.

“Phoebe would have been great with either one.”

Kudrow won an Emmy Award in 1998 for her iconic role, but speaking on Kevin Nealon‘s YouTube series, Hiking with Kevin, in September, she made a stunning admission that she’d never actually watched the show.

“I should, I hear it’s good!,” she joked to Nealon, who was taken aback by the statement.

Elsewhere in the interview Kudrow revealed she “struggled” playing Phoebe in the early years.

“I had played dumb girls (before) but it wasn’t really me,” Kudrow explained of her role.

“I feel like, ‘sh**t, I tricked them in the audition.’ I was the only one who could cope with the audition process and that’s how I got it, I think. So I had to work hard at being Phoebe.”

The 56-year-old went on to credit co-star Matt LeBlanc for snapping her out of it.

“I remember Matt LeBlanc going, ‘What’s going on with you?’” she recalled. “And I said, ‘I don’t think I have it. I don’t know what I’m doing.’ And he went, ‘You’re her, relax, you got it. You’ve been doing this f***ing character for three years. You’re working too hard, that’s your problem. You don’t need to work this hard, relax.’ He was right.”

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