Matthew Perry, who died at the end of last month at the age of 54, is best remembered by TV lovers across the globe for his role as Chandler Bing in the hit sitcom Friendswhich ran for 10 successful seasons from 1994 to 2004. Perry starred in the NBC show alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer.
One of TV’s most popular characters
In 2002, his performance as Chandler earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series — but that’s not the only accolade he received. After all, his character established himself as a firm favorite among Friends fans and one of the most iconic in television history.
That status is not only due to Chandler’s clever personality, but also owes much to his romantic relationship with Monica Geller, played by Cox.
But while Chandler and Monica have gone down as one of TV’s most beloved and happiest couples, Friends’ writers had planned a dark twist in their story that would have been a crushing blow to fans of the show: infidelity. Fortunately, Perry intervened to prevent this from happening.
Perry enters after rehearsing a cheating scene
Lisa Cash, an actress who appeared as an extra in the Season 5 episode “The One in Vegas: Part 1” has told an interview with entertainment outlet TMZ that her role in the show was originally supposed to be much more significant.
According to Cash, the original script contained a scene where after Chandler and Monica have a big bust-up, he cheats on Monica with Cash’s charactera hotel worker who brings him room service.
But after rehearsing the scene, Cash reveals, Perry went to the Friends screenwriters and successfully asked them to get rid of it. She adds that while a more prominent role would have been hugely beneficial to her career, she believes the right decision was made.
The relationship between Chandler and Monica is not planned
In the 2021 documentary Friends: The Reunion, the sitcom’s co-creator David Crane revealed that the showrunners didn’t intend for Chandler and Monica to become a couple. However, after they slept together in London in season four, the audience’s enthusiastic reaction prompted writers to bring the characters together in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.
Chandler and Monica later became engaged in season six before marrying in season seven and adopting newborn twins in season 10’s series finale.
