There is one Friends legacy that will perhaps never go on hiatus. It’s a seemingly eternal question: Were Ross and Rachel on a break?
Asked anew on Tuesday’s episode of The Tonight Show, David Schwimmer, who played Ross, did not hesitate in his response: “It’s not even a question,” he told Jimmy Fallon. “They were on a break.”
Since 1997, Schwimmer has been asked to answer for Ross’s lack of fidelity to his onscreen love. In an episode fittingly titled “The One Where Ross and Rachel Take a Break,” Ross sleeps with a young woman when his relationship with Rachel (played by Jennifer Aniston) is purportedly on hold. When Rachel finds out, they break up for good. Friends would go on to mostly keep them apart for the remainder of the series, until a last-minute reconciliation in the show’s final episode.
In the years since, whether Ross technically cheated on Rachel has been a long-debated subject for Friends fans—although a majority agree with Schwimmer’s assessment of the situation. As People reported last year, a dating site called Plenty of Fish polled its users and found that 60% felt the couple was indeed on a break; a poll of TV Guide readers posted this year similarly found that 83% thought Ross’s actions were justifiable because of his relationship status.
Despite Schwimmer’s firm answer, the discussion about Ross and Rachel and their infamous break is probably far from over. At some point in the near future, Schwimmer and his former co-stars will appear together in a special Friends reunion episode for HBO Max, the streaming home of the series. That event was supposed to take place earlier this year and debut on the nascent streaming platform at launch, but the coronavirus pandemic forced those plans to change. Speaking to Fallon, Schwimmer said the current hope is that the reunion will tape in mid-August, but even that date might not hold.
“We’re going to wait and see another week or two if we all determine it’s really safe to do,” Schwimmer said. “If not, we’ll wait until it’s safe.” In other words, break or not, the Friends cast will eventually be there for you.
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