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Friends became a sitcom titan and pioneered modern comedy on NBC in the 90s. The show became a cultural phenomenon and the characters of Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe and Joey became iconic.
Looking back, the sitcom has had some memorable storylines over the years, like the London storyline, Rachel's pregnancy and many more. However, some abandoned storylines didn't make it on-screen but were conceived in initial drafts.
Just like the sitcom gave us an iconic episode called 'The One That Could Have Been', many storylines could have been a part of the show that would have changed its course forever.
Here are three such storylines that were abandoned from Friends.
3 Friends storylines that were abandoned from the sitcom
1) Rachel was supposed to move in with Gunther
Yes, you read that right. In an initial draft and an axed story that didn't happen in Friends, Rachel was supposed to move in with Gunther after the Pilot. While Gunther was just supposed to be a side character with no lines, fans loved his character and weird obsession with Rachel.
In an earlier draft of the story, Rachel was supposed to move in with him, which would have been such a bad move for her character. Not only was he a total stranger to her, but his obsession with her could have quickly escalated and made things awkward. While this would undoubtedly be a dream come true for Gunther, some things are better left unsaid.
Eventually, Jennifer Aniston and even James Michael Tyler felt that the storyline was too contrived and it was written off. Talking to Metro UK, Tyler even addressed this axed storyline:
'‘It just didn’t read, even to me...it just felt contrived and everything else that happened in the series, and continues to be, was quite organic...Whatever it was for, we didn’t need that storyline.’'
2) Ross was supposed to have (another) pregnancy storyline with Elizabeth
Remember Ross' student Elizabeth, who eventually became his girlfriend in Friends Season 6? While she appeared in only five episodes, her role was initially bigger. Since the sitcom season finales usually ended on a cliffhanger, the Season 6 finale was supposed to end with Ross finding out that Elizabeth is pregnant.
The pregnancy storyline would then play out in Season 7 until the finale, where it would be revealed that the baby was not Ross'. However, since the writers have already planned Rachel's pregnancy storyline for Friends Season 8, this would have shifted focus and become repetitive.
Elizabeth was eventually written off in the Season 6 finale. While the storyline did not happen, Ross was very close to having three divorces and three babies on the show. But thankfully, writers dropped this storyline.
3) Friends was supposed to move to Minnesota in the mid-series finale
Since writers were always trying to create new twists in the story, in an early draft of the Season 4 finale, the Friends was supposed to move to Minnesota.
According to author Saul Austerlitz's book Generation Friends (which he published on the sitcom's 25th anniversary), the shocking reveal of Monica and Chandler was not always how the writers envisioned the Season 4 finale.
Instead, in an earlier draft, Chandler was offered a job in Minnesota and the other characters would follow suit and join him there. They would look for new apartments, new careers, and a new cafe and the show would be totally revamped.
The creators even considered shooting the opening montage with the characters in front of a frozen fountain to suggest the Minnesotan sub-zero temperatures. But this storyline was ultimately scratched out and we got Monica and Chandler, the iconic sitcom couple.
New York City acts like a seventh character in the show and taking that away would have been heartbreaking. In addition, Central Perk Cafe and Monica's apartment would not have become such iconic locations if the show had moved to Minnesota.
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