Recasting Friends In The 90s With An All-Black Cast

Friends is one of the most iconic sitcoms ever to grace the small screen, airing from 1994 to 2004. However, it hasn’t been without criticism; one of the main issues people have with the series is that it had an almost entirely white cast. Not only were all of the main characters white, but every guest and supporting star was, as well.

One notable exception was Aisha Tyler, who played Charlie, a love interest of Ross and Joey. In fact, there were reportedly only just over two dozen Black characters, and that’s counting very minor characters who only appeared in a single episode, as a casting director Joey worked with once and Jennifer Lewis—who now plays the best character on the sitcom Black-ish—as Paula, an employee who worked with Monica. Thinking back, what if the tables were completely turned and an all-black cast headed up the show? Who would play the main characters?

10 Rachel: Lisa Bonet

Back in the 90s when Friends was on, Lisa Bonet was fresh off her roles on The Cosby Show and A Different World. In her late 20s and early 30s, Bonet would have been the perfect age to play Rachel. She had the same mixture of sex appeal and sweetness that Jennifer Aniston possessed which would have made her perfect for the role.

Beyond her look, Bonet has proven herself a tremendous actress. If there were an all-black Friends during that decade, the only reason not to cast her would be that she was already too recognizable an actor.

9 Monica: Nia Long

For five years in the early 90s, Long played Will’s girlfriend Lisa on the sitcom Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.  She appeared in plenty of movies through the 90s and early 00s, but she didn’t really have any major TV roles from 1995 through to 2003 until she began starring in the crime drama Third Watch. It was a perfect pocket of time where Long could have made a great Monica.

Long appeared in everything from comedies to dramas through her lengthy career, from Boyz n the Hood to Big Momma’s House. She’d easily be able to adapt to play the high-strung and quirky Monica, who was, of course, played by Courteney Cox.

8 Chandler: Will Smith

Sure, Smith played a successful womanizer on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air during this same time, but he has proven himself a versatile actor who can tackle any role, including others in the 90s like Bad Boys, Independence Day, and Men in Black. There’s no question that he knows how to play funny characters, so Smith could totally have become the self-deprecating Chandler–originally played by Matthew Perry–who had trouble with women and never really felt worthy of them.

It would have been a challenge for Smith to play the opposite of the confident characters he had been known to play up until then, but he’d have been up for the challenge. Plus, Smith already showed chemistry with Long on that sitcom, so having the pair reunite as a version of Monica and Chandler could make for an interesting.

7 Ross: Marlon Wayans

At the time, Wayans was mostly known for comedy in the sitcom The Wayans Bros., the Scary Movie films, and White Chicks, a movie that some might say hadn’t exactly aged well. He had experience with making viewers laugh, and he could have translated this to his own unique version of Ross, even though the part was tailor-made for David Schwimmer.

Like Chandler, Ross was never lucky in love, though he still happened to snag a string of girlfriends and fiances. It was all because he couldn’t get over Rachel, who was obviously “the one,” but he felt for some time that she was out of his league. Wayans could have pulled this off and catapulted his career in the process.

6 Joey: Omar Epps

With similarly striking features and a suave persona like Matt LeBlanc, who played the goofy, dimwitted, and handsome Joey, Omar Epps would have been perfect for the Friends role. Epps had a number of film roles during this timeframe like The Program, Major League II, and Higher Learning, but he didn’t have much experience when it came to television.

He went on, however, to star in the widely popular medical drama House. He continuously earned NAACP Image Award nominations for his many roles, and he could have been a totally believable Joey.

5 Gunther: David Alan Grier

Best known for being on the sketch comedy series In Living Color in the 90s—one of the best sketch comedy series that fans might have already forgotten about, and now starring in the Netflix sitcom Dad Stop Embarrassing Me alongside Jamie Foxx—Grier has a massive and impressive resume of film and TV roles.

He has the same quiet sensibility as James Michael Tyler, who played Gunther. Imagining Grier secretly obsessing over Lisa Bonet as Rachel is a concept fans could easily buy into. And Grier could likely have brought some additional comedy to the role that could have made Gunther a bigger part of the story.

4 Janice: Regina King

A multi-award-winning actress with an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and four Primetime Emmys to her name, Regina King is one of the greatest actors of this generation. She has had decades to rack up plenty of credits, including a number of them in the ’90s.

Her most notable roles were in the movies Friday and Jerry Maguire, but she’s no stranger to television, having appeared in the anthology series American Crime and Netflix miniseries Seven Seconds. She also has sitcom experience with her small recurring role in The Big Bang Theory from 2013-2019. There’s no role King can’t handle, and the scene-stealing Janice would have been a good one to add to her resume and solidify her range with comedic talent, as well.

3 Dr. Richard Burke: Denzel Washington

Dr. Richard Burke was “the one who got away;” the man with a solid job, rugged, handsome looks, and a good head on his shoulders. Monica chose Chandler, however, because, in the end, he was her true love.

Denzel Washington would have been perfect for the role. Back in the 90s, he was a massive movie star with films like Malcolm X—which earned him an Oscar nomination—as well as Philadelphia, and The Pelican Brief. But, Tom Selleck was a pretty big star, too, when he took on this role. It might have been a fun one for Washington to add to his resume, as the character only appeared sparingly throughout a few seasons.

2 Ben: Bryton McClure

Cole Sprouse went on to become a mega-star, appearing in the movie Big Daddy opposite Adam Sandler, having his own series on Disney Channel, and now a role as a lead character on Riverdale. Bryton McClure is around the same age and was acting in the 90s, too.

He is best known for playing the adorable and precocious Richie Crawford on Family Matters. Ben didn’t really get much airtime and all but disappeared in the later seasons, but McClure’s bubbly personality might have earned Ben a bigger role in a redo of the show.

1 Mike: Cuba Gooding Jr.

Of course, fans would never want to take Cuba Gooding Jr. away from his memorable role in the movie Jerry Maguire, which remains one of the best 90s rom-coms. Thankfully, that movie was from 1996, and Mike, played by Paul Rudd, didn’t appear until the later seasons of Friends.

He became the long-term boyfriend and eventual fiancé and husband of Phoebe. He was sweet and exactly who Phoebe needed. Gooding Jr. had an impressive resume already, with other roles in movies like Boyz n the Hood, A Few Good Men, and Pearl Harbor. Playing Mike could have been a good shift to television long before his real shift in the 2010s for The People v. O.J. Simpson, American Horror Story, and Empire.

About The Author