Was Chandler Bing originally gay on Friends? Even Lisa Kudrow thought so

Whether you love it or hate it, Friends is a pop culture phenomenon that will likely never not be popular. The American sitcom was on air from 1994 to 2004 and catapulted multiple actors to fame. The six main stars — Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer, and Matt LeBlanc — are still all arguably most famous for their roles on the comedic series, and they’ve remained so close over the years that it’s evident they hold Friends dear to their hearts.

If you watched Friends: The Reunion on HBO Max earlier this year, you’ll know that each actor regards the show as an incredibly special time in their lives. Though Friends has not exactly aged well in many aspects, its fanbase will never stop watching reruns and marathoning the series on a rainy day.

Friends has been criticized over the years for its lack of diversity and jokes at the expense of the LGBTQ+ community, begging the question of how different it might’ve been if the main cast wasn’t all white and straight. The thought gets even more interesting when realizing many people — including actress Lisa Kudrow — have believed the character Chandler Bing was supposed to be gay.

Was Chandler Bing supposed to be gay on Friends?

As reported by The Huffington Post, one interview from Kudrow that’s been shared throughout the years has her saying she believed Chandler was gay when she first joined the cast and they had their first table read.

The Phoebe Buffay actress recalled meeting her Friends co-stars and when talking about Matthew Perry, she shared:

"“When I read the script I thought Chandler, ‘Oh so he’s the gay character. That’s the gay character.’ And then Matthew, ‘Oh he’s not gay at all. He’s doing it, but the character’s not gay. How is he doing that?'”"

While Kudrow didn’t clarify what she meant by “doing that,” it is interesting that she initially thought Chandler was gay, as many fans have been saying that all along.

According to LGBTQ Nation, Friends showrunners Marta Kauffman and David Crane “entertained the possibility that Chandler could be gay,” however decided against it because Perry was not gay in real life. As reported by CBR, Crane stated in a 1996 interview:

"“We didn’t go into this determined that Chandler would be straight. If we had cast a different actor – who was gay – there was the option that we would have taken the character in that direction.”"

YouTuber Matt Baume shared a thorough video titled “The Straightening of Chandler” which has gone viral, where he breaks down the character and analyzes whether or not him being gay would’ve been a win for Friends. You can check it out below.

At the end of the day, we don’t know how it would’ve played out if Chandler Bing was explicitly gay on Friends. It would have been awesome to see a member of the LGBTQ+ community represented as a main character in one of the most popular shows of all time, however we don’t know if the writers would’ve been sensitive enough with their jokes and scenes.

There are a handful of offensive moments in Friends looking back, much like many TV shows and movies from the ’90s and earlier. Whether or not that makes it a bad show is subjective.

All 10 seasons of Friends are now streaming on HBO Max.