"Friends" isn't "on a break." It's really over.
It's been nearly 15 years since the "Friends" finale aired, and it's been just as long since fans of the must-see series have hoped for its return in the form of a revival run, a reboot or even just a single reunion episode.
Some cast members have teased that possibility, but co-creator and former executive producer Marta Kauffman has now dashed those dreams.
"There are several reasons" for that, Kauffman revealed in a new interview with Rolling Stone. "One, the show is about a time in your life when your friends are your family. It’s not that time anymore. All we’d be doing is putting those six actors back together, but the heart of the show would be gone. Two, I don’t know what good it does us. The show is doing just fine, people love it. (A reunion) could only disappoint."
Then, having a laugh at the show's naming convention for episodes, she dubbed an imaginary reunion plot, "The One Where Everyone’s Disappointed."
As for the show "doing just fine" now, she's referring to the new life the old series is experiencing on Netflix, where it's a hit with many fans who weren't even born when it debuted back in 1994.
"It’s a comfort-food show," she said. "These are trying times, and certain people want the comfort food rather than the difficult, mean-spirited kind of show. It’s warm, it’s cozy, (the characters) love each other. What’s not to love about that?"
So as far as Kauffman, who's also the co-creator of the Netflix hit "Grace and Frankie," is concerned, there's no need for a revival or a do-over. Streaming reruns of the original series still fill that craving for "comfort food."
While devoted fans may be dissatisfied by her decision, Matt LeBlanc, who played Joey Tribbiani, is sure to support Kauffman's take.
Just last year, he brushed off the idea of going back to his old character during a chat with Steve Harvey.
"I always have this standard go-to joke when people say, 'We want to see what Joey’s doing now.' Nobody wants to see Joey at his colonoscopy! Nobody wants to see that," he said.
But Jennifer Aniston, who played Rachel Green, has her own idea for a distant-future revival that would work around Kauffman's concerns and LeBlanc's, too — at least for three of the characters.
"What if we're Rachel, Phoebe and Monica as just 'Golden Girls'?" she teased on "The Late Late Show" in December.
She even brought it up in an August interview with InStyle magazine, too, wherein she imagined the trio relaxing and spending their "last years together on wicker furniture."
Somewhere fans are already humming, "Thank you for being a 'Friend' — again."