Ross And Rachel's Best Moment On Friends Still Hits All The Feels To This Day
Over its 10-season run, "Friends" features a recurring storyline about the relationship between Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) and Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston). As a teen, the high school cheerleader wanted nothing to do with the nerdy, dinosaur-loving big brother of her bestie Monica (Courteney Cox), but that all changes when the gang is in their mid-20s. Ross and Rachel's back-and-forth romantic relationship includes a "break" and a baby, but by the time the show's final season rolls around, it seems it's over for good.
In the 2004 finale episode "The Last One," Rachel is set to move to Paris for a new job, but at the last minute, Ross realizes he still loves her and hunts her down at the airport. Rachel still gets on the plane, but when a devastated Ross gets home, there's a voicemail from her in which she tells him she still loves him too. Rachel is heard arguing with airline staff about letting her off the plane when the voicemail cuts off. "Did she get off the plane?" Ross screams at the answering machine before turning around to see Rachel in his doorway. "I got off the plane," she says. The feel-good scene ends with the longtime loves kissing — and back together for good.
It's the happy ending everyone wanted, including Aniston. In a 2019 interview on "The Today Show," the "Friends" star was asked if she thinks Ross and Rachel are still together today, and she replied, "Absolutely."
Ross and Rachel almost didn't end up together on Friends
The "Friends" finale was a huge two-parter with a viewership of 52 million live viewers. But fans almost didn't get the chance to see Ross and Rachel's happily ever after play out on-screen. In a clip from the "Friends" Blu-ray package (via Entertainment Weekly), executive producer David Crane teased there was almost a vague ending for the lovebirds, with a hint that they could be together in the future. "At first we thought that [getting them together] seems so expected," Crane admitted.
He elaborated in a 2014 interview. "We did talk about, with Ross and Rachel, a gray area of where they aren't together but we hint there's a sense that they might be down the road," Crane told Entertainment Weekly. "But we thought, 'No, if we're going to do it, let's do it. ... Let's deliver not just what the audience wants, but what we want, which was to see them finally together.'"
During the 2021 follow-up special, "Friends: The Reunion," viewers saw extended footage from the moment the "I got off the plane" sequence was shot nearly 20 years prior. In the full clip, it was revealed that David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston continued to embrace long after the director shouted, "Cut!" Even they didn't want that emotional moment to end.