A Beloved Friends Guest Star Nearly Played Rachel

It's hard to imagine anyone else sitting on that iconic Central Perk sofa other than the "Friends" we ended up with (leading to one of the best sitcoms of all-time). But had different choices been made, the crucial character of Rachel Green, played by Jennifer Aniston, could've looked like Ross' (David Schwimmer) first ex-wife of the show, Carol, played by Jane Sibbett.

During an appearance on the Australian morning show Sunrise, Sibbett was asked if she almost came close to landing the role of rachel. "Almost. It's a bit of an embellishment," she said. "It's actually that I had left the room auditioning for Rachel, and I got the phone call from my manager saying, 'They love you, they want you, they want you. You've got to come back next week, but they want you.'"

Sibbet, however, was concerned about one slight issue that could crop up for the character she had a chance to play: "So I said, 'Did you tell them I was pregnant?' and he said, 'No, no, no, just go onto the test. It'll be fine, so that's how it went." After taking the more honest approach, Sibbett didn't get the role of Rachel, but at least she ended up with Carol, right? Well, just like Ross' divorces and many relationships on the show, things were also a little complicated there.

After missing out on playing the coffee house's most well-known employee, Sibbett saw an in elsewhere as Carol, Ross' pregnant ex-wife, given that she had a child of her own on the way. Unfortunately, the schedules didn't align, and Sibbett lost the role to Anita Barone instead.

"I said, 'Ask them if I could play the pregnant lesbian and they said the timing still wouldn't work,'" recalled Sibbett. Thankfully, things changed drastically when, after one appearance in the show's pilot, Barone quit the show. "Friends" needed a Carol and fast. "And so when I got home from the hospital after delivering the baby, that's when I got the phone call."

Thankfully, there were no hard feelings between herself and her co-star that ended up nabbing Rachel. "No one could have ever played that part besides Jennifer. Nobody," Sibbett said. But in her own way, Sibbett left an essential mark on the show, bringing a gay character to the forefront of television, which received a heated reception. Any mention of Carol being a lesbian was censored in China, while her marriage to her partner Susan (Jessica Hecht) was banned across multiple networks. As Sibbett put it: "They thought it was going to be a big deal but it gave us a lot of wonderful press and gave us the opportunity to talk about, you know, love is love and this is something we needed to do, and it's just a beautiful storyline."