Omg, Chandler was going to cheat on Monica in Friends but Matthew Perry changed the script

Okay so, obviously any Friends fan will know that after Chandler and Monica hooked up in London it instantly became clear their relationship was end game. But, apparently, the show’s writers didn’t see it that way and actually wanted Chandler to cheat on Monica until Matthew Perry stepped in and changed the script completely.

Basically, in the 1999 season five episode The One In Vegas: Part One, where Monica and Chandler are in a fight because Monica had lunch with her ex Richard, Chandler was meant to get so jealous he wound up sleeping with someone else altogether.

In an interview with TMZ, the actress who was meant to play the part of the other woman, said: “The scene was Chandler and Monica were arguing in Vegas about Monica having lunch with Richard. Initially, in our script, Chandler goes up to the hotel room, orders room service, and I bring it up as a hotel worker, and we end up talking and laughing and connecting, and Chandler ends up cheating on Monica with my character.”

Credit: Netflix

“We had rehearsed it and everything, and then the day before we were shooting in front of the live audience, I was told that [Matthew] went to the writers and said the audience will never forgive him for cheating on Monica,” she continued. “He was probably right. That would have changed possibly the course of the show, and his character.”

So, instead of playing the woman Chandler cheated on Monica with, Lisa was instead re-cast as a flight attendant. But, even though Lisa’s role was massively reduced after the changed story line, she still agrees Matthew was right to argue for the changes to the script. “I don’t think the audience would have really forgiven that, so I think it was smart,” she said. And, tbh, she’s very, very, right. 

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Matthew Perry detailed how he wanted to be remembered a year before his death 

• Matthew Perry’s death has shown we need to change the way we speak about addiction 

•These are the ages of the Friends cast now and when the show first started 

Featured image credit via Netflix