TV Shows

We’re Glad This Cancelled Ross Gellar Storyline Wasn’t Told in Friends 25 Years Ago

David Schwimmer’s Ross Gellar was almost the subject of a life-changing storyline in Friends season 7, but we’re very thankful this plot was cancelled before it ever began. Schwimmer was one of the six central cast members of Friends, one of TV’s most iconic and beloved sitcoms ever. Throughout the ten-season long series, Ross was often the butt of the joke, finding himself in difficult, stressful, and unfortunate situations, such as stories involving his divorces, poor dating skills, professional stresses, and even pregnancies โ€“ which was almost taken much too far.

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During Friends season 6, Ross became romantically involved with a student at his university, Elizabeth (Alexandra Holden). She appeared in five episodes, making her controversial and frowned-upon relationship with Ross one of his most short-lived romances, but she was originally planned to stick around for much longer. As revealed by CBR in 2015, Friends season 6 almost ended with the cliffhanger of Ross finding out that Elizabeth was pregnant with his child, which would have been explored in more detail in season 7, released between 2000 and 2001.

Ross was no stranger to pregnancy storylines in Friends. His first wife, Carol (Jane Sibbett), revealed her pregnancy in Friends season 1, kick-starting a long-running co-parenting story between Ross, Carol, and her partner, Susan (Jessica Hecht). Later, in Friends season 8, Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston) reveals her pregnancy to Ross after a one-night-stand prior to Monica (Courteney Cox) and Chandler’s (the late Matthew Perry) wedding. Throwing Elizabeth’s pregnancy into the mix would have complicated things further, especially since the plan was for Ross to realize her baby wasn’t his at the end of season 7.

It was a very good choice for Friends’ creators to avoid a pregnancy storyline between then-32-year-old Ross and 20-year-old Elizabeth. This relationship was already questionable โ€“ with Elizabeth’s immaturity ultimately being the reason they broke up โ€“ and throwing a pregnancy into the mix would have made this romance even more overtly inappropriate. Ross was done dirty many times over Friends’ ten seasons, so we’re glad he was saved on at least one occasion, leaving his relationship with Elizabeth in the past as he rekindled something with Rachel โ€“ who he was destined to end up with.

Ross’ romance with Elizabeth was something of a stain on his Friends journey, so we’re grateful that the show’s creative team decided to just swiftly move on from it. Ross barrelled into pregnancy storyline with Rachel in season 8, a will-they, won’t-they story after Rachel moves in with him in season 9, and then eventually ended up with Rachel in Friends’ emotional finale. All of this would have changed if Elizabeth’s pregnancy had gone ahead, so it was the best choice for it to be avoided entirely.

What would you have made of Ross and Elizabeth’s pregnancy storyline in Friends season 7? Let us know in the comments!