Friends Is Being Reimagined With an All-Black Cast

Friends continues to be one of the most popular shows in the world, despite the fact there hasn’t been a new episode since 2004. New generations of fans continue to find it thanks to reruns and streaming platforms. But one of the biggest criticisms of the hit show remains its lack of diversity, both in the main cast and even in guest-starring roles. 

Now, one classic episode of the show will be reimagined with an all-Black cast in the roles of Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Ross, Joey, and Chandler. The online event is part of the “Zoom Where It Happens” initiative that previously put on an all-Black table read of The Golden Girls with Tracee Ellis Ross, Alfre Woodard, Sanaa Lathan, and Regina King. The goal is to raise awareness around voting and issues affecting the upcoming election, but it’s totally free to attend. You can sign up here; the live table read will take place on September 22 at 9 p.m. ET, hosted by Gabrielle Union. 

The Friends episode the new cast will tackle is “The One Where No One’s Ready”—you know, the ep where Joey says, “Could I be wearing any more clothes?”, Ross almost “drinks the fat,” and Monica freaks out over that voicemail message from Richard. 

So who’s playing who in this new version? Sterling K. Brown will be Ross Geller; Uzo Aduba plays Phoebe Buffay;  Ryan Bathe (who also happens to be Brown’s wife) takes on the role of Rachel Green; Aisha Hinds will be Monica Geller; Insecure’s Kendrick Sampson is Joey Tribbiani; and Jeremy Pope will play the ever sarcastic Chandler Bing. 

We very much can’t wait to see each one of these actors give their spin to characters we’ve known and loved for decades. To be honest, Brown’s This Is Us character, Randall Pearson, does have a few Ross-like tendencies. And we know Aduba can do quirky really well from her time on Orange Is the New Black. 

This is going to be so good. 

Originally Appeared on Glamour