Tom Selleck Says He’d Join a ‘Friends’ Reboot If Asked: ‘It Was a Great Place to Work’
Remember The One with Monica and Richard?
It’s been two decades since Tom Selleck‘s last appearance on Friends, where he played Richard Burke, the older paramour of Courteney Cox‘s character, Monica Gellar. But the veteran actor says he retains plenty of happy memories of his time on the show.
“It was a great place to work,” the Blue Bloods star, 75, tells PEOPLE. “The actors were grateful for the opportunity and they were all as good as you can get.”
For more about Tom Selleck, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(655x0:657x2):format(webp)/tom-selleck-friends-2ccf2d73b40f4bd681adad7f88a61688.jpg)
On the show, Selleck’s character Richard was an ophthalmologist and family friend of the Gellar parents before he fell in love with Monica, 21 years his junior.
Selleck, who had previously done a screen test with Cox, admits he had some nerves once he signed on to play the role in 1996.
“I hadn’t done a three camera live show since Taxi,” says Selleck. “It scared me a little. But that’s the price you pay for opportunity!”
Initially, Selleck signed on for only three episodes, but at the table read for what was set to be his last, “They said, ‘Hey can you do a few more?’ ” recalls Selleck. “So then I did more. And I quickly realized, ‘Wow, this is a big deal.’ ”
Selleck returned in 2000, when Richard briefly threatened to break up the relationship between Monica and Chandler, played by Matthew Perry.
“It just worked,” says Selleck of his role and the camaraderie amongst the cast. “I thought it was great.”
As for the much anticipated Friends reunion, set to air on HBO Max later this year, “they haven’t asked me” to be a part of it, says Selleck. “But if the opportunity came up, I’d do it again!”
Blue Bloods airs Fridays (10 p.m. ET) on CBS.
