Friends producer admits Ross and Rachel were never meant to 'go on a break'

Were Rachel and Ross really on a break? It’s the question that has divided fans of the show for decades, and now Friends executive producer and director Kevin S. Bright says it was a storyline that was never supposed to happen.

“I would say initially when [Ross and Rachel] was planned it wasn’t planned that way, that came a little bit later,” he said in an interview with Metro.

“It allowed us to have fun with the show and give people something to root for,” he explained.

“We were well aware the audience wanted to keep them together but everything that was keeping them apart – we realised when we got them together when the first kiss happened we go, ‘Wow, the air has kind of gone out of the balloon.’ There wasn’t that sexual tension anymore.”

Bright said the infamous ‘break’ between Ross and Rachel was a “brilliant and brave” move.

“As soon as everyone got their wish the wish was taken away. It made it so much better when they did get together,” he said.

Bright also said that they were very close to filming a Friends reunion.

“Oh yes [there was a chance it would come back],” he said. “I tell you we had a meeting month ago where I had hopes it would come back.”

But ultimately the idea was shelved, because as producer David Crane pointed out: “50-year-olds hanging out in a coffee shop would be pathetic.”

“‘They’re at different places in their lives, potentially divorces and so we feel just like letting them go off into the sunset is one of the things which keeps them going in people’s minds; wondering what they do and did the marriage last and what did the kids grow up to be like,” Bright said.

“I think that’s best left to the audience.”