Jennifer Aniston Almost Lost Role On 'Friends'; Production Had 'Backup Rachel' Plans

Jennifer Aniston nearly missed out on her iconic role as Rachel Green on "Friends."

During an appearance on the SiriusXM show "Gayle King in The House," Aniston revisited the time when she was almost replaced on the sitcom, which ran for 10 years. According to the actress, "Friends" director James Burrows warned her that her other 1994 sitcom series, "Muddling Through," would likely be renewed for another season "just to spite this show." If the series got picked up, her casting as Rachel would be in jeopardy.

"Sure enough, they [the show] actually did," Aniston was quoted by E! News as saying. "They picked it up just for three episodes. And so that's when other girls—and then Friends sort of had a moment of, ‘Ooh, we should start just having a backup for Rachel.'"

Word then got out that the production was looking for a possible replacement for Aniston. The actress even received calls from friends who were interested in the "Friends" role.

"I remember my friends calling me saying, ‘I'm auditioning for Rachel. Will you help me with the...' And I was like, what? What?" Aniston recalled.

To secure her "Friends" casting, Aniston asked a "Muddling Through" producer if she could step out of her role as Madeline Cooper on the short-lived series to star as Rachel instead. According to the actress, her former producer told her "Friends" wouldn't be successful and that she would regret giving up her "Muddling Through" role.

"That's when he said, ‘I've seen that show 'Friends,' I saw that show,'" Aniston recalled. "I saw the pilot. That's not going to make you a star. This show will make you a star.' And then the rest is history."

Aniston made the right choice because "Muddling Through" only aired for one season, running from July 9, 1994, to Sept. 7, 1994. Meanwhile, after premiering on Sept. 22, 1994, "Friends" went on to air for 10 seasons until it ended on May 6, 2004.

Aniston recently reunited with her five co-stars Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer for "Friends: The Reunion." The two-hour HBO Max special premiered Thursday.

During the reunion, Aniston and Schwimmer admitted that there was a time when they had a major crush on each other. However, their relationship never went beyond friendship.

"I think at some point we were both crushing hard on each other, but it was like two ships passing because one of us was always in a relationship, and we never crossed that boundary," Schwimmer explained. "We respected that."