There’s Never Going to Be a Proper ‘Friends’ Reunion, So Relax

Remember the public's collective joy over the "Friends reunion" coming with the casts's group appearance in an upcoming TV special? Well GROW UP, because you'll never get the Friends reunion many fans dream of, according to Marta Kauffman.

Kauffman co-created the series — you've likely seen her name onscreen in a fun, faux-handwritten font while Monica, Ross and the gang frolic around the fountain. The characters are her babies, shared with co-creator David Crane, and she has absolutely zero plans to let you see her brainchildren leading their middle-aged lives. Judging from Matthew Perry's announcement that he's skipping the reunion to rehearse a play in London, the cast is more than fine with this. Let's be fine with it too.

"There will never be a Friends reunion movie," she told E! News at the 2016 TCA Winter Press Tour. Kauffman was there to promote Season 2 of her Netflix series Grace and Frankie, a comedy starring Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda that's well worth your time. The TV veteran voiced a similar sentiment to E! News in 2013, saying "Friends was about that time in your life when your friends are your family and once you have a family, there's no need anymore." That "time in your life," by the majority of American adults' estimation, is in your 20s, and that's a period the Friends have long put behind them.

It's true that Friends, which a new generation rediscovered upon its full release to Netflix at the top of 2015, has its evergreen charms. The sitcom's sharp writing and the cast's exceptional chemistry is as attractive as its fantasy of New York real estate. It's most gorgeous fantasy of all: The One Where Friends Are Always Available to Meet Up at Central Perk Every Day, Even in the Middle of the Workday Somehow. They existed in the same flexible-schedule space of Sex In the City's foursome, who could always set aside pressing family and career concerns to meet for an impromptu brunch conference. For both teenagers whose freedom is impinged upon by curfews and busy adults who've moved far from old friends, that's an aspirational dream lifestyle.

And look: To varying degrees, we are all Netflix addicted, nostalgia-drunk forever-kids who refuse to let go of yesterday's comforts. We click on every "Then and Now" and "Cast Reunion" photo, pushing them to the top of the Facebook trending bar (including those in the gallery below, which even this writer admits to being seduced by because YES, I do want to see Friday Night Lights' East Dillon Lions being chummy in real life). Maybe we should follow Kauffman's lead, resisting the urge to reanimate golden-era characters best left in syndication — and if your thirst for revived franchises runs deep, there's always Fuller House?

Together Again: 20 Heart-Melting TV + Movie Cast Reunions