Matthew Perry Wished He Could’ve Stopped the End to ‘Friends’

Friends lasted 10 seasons before the series came to a conclusion in 2004. But if it was up to late actor Matthew Perry, the show would’ve never ended.

Matthew Perry disagreed that ‘Friends’ had to end

Friends’ lifespan was much longer than other shows, thriving on television for a full decade. But that wasn’t enough for Perry, whose post-Friends endeavors didn’t seem to capture the same magic as the hit sitcom. After Friends ended, Perry admitted to having bad luck in movies. For a time, the studio lost faith in the actor’s reliability as a film star.

“I did about three movies that failed in a row,” Perry said in a 2015 interview with Buzzfeed. “And then they stopped offering me movies.”

He had slightly more success in the space of television. He managed to secue a main role in Aaron Sorkin’s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Mr. Sunshine. Both shows only lasted for one season, although he found his work in Studio 60 particularly rewarding. According to the publication, Perry was proud of his performance on the series. But felt discouraged when his own creative ideas clashed with Sorkin’s.

“Aaron Sorkin’s dialogue was the best writing I’ll ever have,” he said. “But there were times when I had ideas, and they were sort of shut down.”

Perry had a few recurring parts in other shows as well. But none of his projects seemed to reach the heights or energy that Friends enjoyed. So much so he found himself reflecting on the show often, wishing that it continued.

“I find myself sort of reminiscing about about how much fun the show was, and the hours that we worked. You know, you can see how much we laughed and everything. I was asked about it recently and I found myself saying, ‘If I had a time machine, I would like to go back to 2004 and not have stopped,’” Perry once said according to Female First. “Friends was the greatest job in the world.”

Matthew Perry considered walking away from acting for good after ‘Friends’

After the premature ending of Studio 60, Perry found his career stalling for a bit. So much so that he considered walking away from acting permanent.

“At the time, I thought, I’ll just retire! I’ve won the lottery. I’ll just hang out and do whatever I want,” Perry said.

Perry certainly could’ve retired comfortably if he wanted to at the time. Celebrity Net Worth reported that he earned $1 million for an episode of Friends at the height of the show’s popularity. And thanks to his syndication earnings, Perry had an accumulated net worth of $120 million at the time of his death.

But Perry couldn’t retire. Even though he didn’t need the money, he still needed the work. “But I have to work,” he continued. “I have to be a person that’s working. “Doing Go On was fun; doing Mr. Sunshine was fun; doing Studio 60 was a very interesting challenge, but fun. And doing The Odd Couple is fun.”

It helped that Perry wasn’t really bothered by the cancellation of his shows. At least not enough to truly quit acting.

“When all of those shows were canceled, I was absolutely fine,” he said. “I didn’t shed a tear at all. I was ready for them to be done, even if some of them were good. When you get the network call saying you’re canceled, I was, like, cool, no problem. The same thing would be true for The Odd Couple. I think I’m just lucky that I don’t need it.”