Any fan of Friends will know that when it comes to iconic guest-star moments, very few beat Reese Witherspoon’s appearance.
Reese had a two-episode arc as Jill Greene — the younger sister of Rachel, played by Jennifer Aniston — back in 2000. During the episodes, Jill turned up in New York seeking help from Rachel after being cut off by their father.
She went on to have a short-lived fling with Rachel’s ex-boyfriend, Ross, before he called it off and she left in a fury.
While Reese was offered the opportunity to return to the show for another guest appearance, she ultimately decided against it out of fear of acting in front of a live audience.
“I’ve never done it again,” she told Associated Press of appearing in front of a live studio audience back in 2019. “Did you know [Friends] asked me back and I said, ‘I can’t do it.’ I got…I was too scared. They asked me to come back and I was like, ‘I’m too nervous.'”
However, despite not appearing on Friends together again, Reese and Jennifer have remained close ever since, and went on to star in Apple TV’s The Morning Show together. The show first launched in 2021 and has since been renewed for a third season.
But it seems that in the downtime between filming, Reese is feeling nostalgic for her time on the sitcom with Jen.
On Thursday, Reese took to Instagram to share a clip from an interview conducted by Access Hollywood in 2019, where the pair recreated one of their most iconic moments from the show.
In the clip, Jennifer and Reese are handed a photo of themselves in character as Rachel and Jill, sitting on the couch in Central Perk.
“Oh that’s sweet,” Reese says on looking at the photo.
“Is this where you say the line that you love so much?” Jennifer asks.
Reese asks Jennifer if she remembers her line from the scene. When it becomes clear that Jennifer doesn’t remember, Reese hides their faces with the photograph and whispers in Jen’s ear.
Jennifer then launches into action saying, “I say, ‘You can’t have Ross.'”
And Reese responds with one of the most well-known, hilarious lines from the show: “Can’t have? Can’t have?! The only thing I can’t have is dairy.”
While the reenactment wasn’t entirely accurate — Rachel’s line was actually, “This is about you being a brat, wanting what you can’t have,” — we’ll still give the ladies an A+ for effort.
And proving just how much the scene still means to her now, over two decades on, Reese captioned her post: “This line gets me every time 🧀😂 @jenniferaniston @friends.”
And this isn’t the first time in recent months that the actors have thrown it back to their time on Friends.
Back in March, Jennifer adorably marked Reese’s birthday with a carousel of images on Instagram, beginning with one of them starring as Rachel and Jill, before referencing their relationship in the show in the caption.
“It’s somebody’s birthday today 🥳” she wrote. “My little sister 👉🏼 co-anchor 👉🏼 partner in crime 🥂 I LOVE YOU, you sweet ray of sunshine. Let the love pour in! ❤️ Happy BIRTHDAY @reesewitherspoon 🥰🎂”
Looks like they’ll be ~friends~ forever.
