Jennifer Aniston Not On ‘Friends’? The Role of Rachel Green Almost Went To Someone Else

Jennifer Aniston almost didn’t get the role of Rachel Green on the sitcom Friends. It’s okay. Take a moment to pull yourself together after trying to imagine the show without Jen (and her various hairstyles).

The role was coveted by many actresses, and Christina Applegate was one who tried out for the part, but another serious contender was Jane Krakowski. Elle reports that during an interview with Giuliana Rancic on the Emmys red carpet, Jane revealed she did indeed try for the role and she wishes she had gotten it.

“Well, I, like almost every actor in the world, auditioned for Friends. I wish I had gotten that one. I actually auditioned for Rachel, and I didn’t go very far.”

Jane did give a great and humble interview, talking about her missed Friends role, which went to Jennifer Aniston, her current show, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and how lucky she is to have met Tina Fey.

So how did Jennifer Aniston, virtually unknown at the time, get cast for her role as Rachel in Friends? Cinema Blend reported that Preston Beckman of NBC said that they decided they really wanted Jennifer for the part, but she was in another brand new comedy on CBS called Muddling Through. According to Beckman, they decided to do whatever they needed to do to squash that show so that Jennifer was available for Friends.

“When we picked up Friends, Jennifer Aniston was in second position. She was on a CBS comedy, Muddling Through, and they had six episodes of it. We heard that they were putting the show on Saturday nights while we were in a current meeting. I remember Warren Littlefield turns to me and said, ‘Kill it!’ So I did. The first one or two weeks that it was on, I put original Danielle Steel movies against it. We wanted to make sure they weren’t going to pick up more episodes just to be spiteful.”

In the end, Jennifer Aniston took the role of Rachel Green and made it her own. Since then, she has never looked back, as her career has exploded. But we will never forget Rachel. It’s true, Jane Krakowski could have been great in the role, but Rachel would have been a very different character. We simply can’t imagine Friends without Jennifer Aniston. Just check out this clip of the show, which also features Jennifer’s ex-husband Brad Pitt, as a reminder of The Importance of Jennifer.

[Photo: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images]