Not Susan, Jessica Hecht auditioned for this main character’s role in Friends – Here’s what the actress revealed about her rejection

Although Friends ended in 2004, the popularity of the sitcom refuses to die down. Despite the new-age criticism the show often faces, the fandom only keeps growing stronger. While fans are surely still enamored by the key characters of Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Joey, and Phoebe, several other characters like Ross’ first wife Carol and her wife Susan are also fondly remembered.

Played by Jessica Hecht, Susan was introduced in the second episode of the first season. She made 13 appearances over the 10-season run of the show, and the comic timing she shared with Ross, who was naturally shell-shocked when his wife came out as a lesbian, was fun to watch.

However, not many fans know that Hecht had initially auditioned for Courtney Cox’s Monica. Talking about the same in an interview with Parade, the three-time Tony nominee actor mentioned that since she knew the casting director for Friends, Ellie Kanner, she was excited to see her at the audition. She added,

“So I went in, mostly excited to see Ellie Kanner, and then they started to read me for Monica.”

What happened next is public knowledge. While Hecht could not bag the role of Monica, she did become a part of Friends as Susan.

Jessica Hecht had auditioned for Monica’s role in Friends

Talking about her auditioning experience for Friends, Hecht mentioned to Parade,

“I was out in Los Angeles, and my agent said, ‘Oh, I sent your picture into this casting director for Friends. There’s one part, they’re not sure if the actor will take. They want to still look at some other actors, and I think she knows you from high school.”

Although Hecht knew the casting director, the role went to Courtney Cox and after all these years, Hecht believes she understands why they took that decision. She said,

“I think looking at me back then, I’m tall and I just had a bigger size than the rest. Now I look at it, and I think how perfect Courteney was, I would have been more of a Lisa, just physically and energetically.”

Hecht also had comments about the character she eventually got to play in the show, Susan. She said Susan could have been developed better, and added,

“They just couldn’t figure out how to make Susan work. Because they — well, it’s terrible. But they just wanted a lesbian that didn’t look exactly like lesbians had previously, let’s be honest.”

While it is true that Susan had limited screen time and despite the great chemistry that she and Jane Sibbett’s Carol had, their storyline remained underdeveloped and was mostly presented in relation to Ross’ life and what was happening in it.

Friends can be streamed on Netflix.

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Edited by Vinayak Chakravorty