The Two Films That Freed Jennifer Aniston From The Friends Curse

Jennifer Aniston has been steadily rewriting her own Hollywood narrative for a while now, and in case you missed it, she is deep into the prestige TV lane. With The Morning Show back for season 4 and her still wearing both the star and executive producer hats, the old sitcom box she got shoved into years ago feels pretty outdated.

The pivot that actually stuck

Aniston points to two films as the turning point: The Good Girl and Cake. Those were the jobs that cracked open the idea that she could do more than a punchline and a perfect blowout.

"Those projects just remind me that I’m capable of more than what the industry saw me as, and typecast me as, so I was grateful for those jobs because enough times you’re not invited to those kinds of tables, you start to think, Oh, maybe they think I can’t do it. Maybe I can’t."

She also talks about how those roles forced a reset in her own head: push yourself, try the scarier stuff, and prove (to yourself and everyone else) that you’re not just a good tagline.

And while Friends is still a global comfort watch juggernaut, her post-Rachel run didn’t stall out. It widened.

Breaking out of a mega-sitcom shadow

For anyone from a show as massive as Friends, shaking off an iconic character is not exactly a weekend project. Still, over time, the cast built careers that went well past ’90s laugh tracks:

• Courteney Cox found a second home in horror with the Scream franchise and later moved behind the camera, building out a directing track in episodic TV alongside the on-screen work.
• Lisa Kudrow doubled down on offbeat, character-first projects like The Comeback and Web Therapy, both praised for sharper, smarter performances that let her get weird in the best way.
• David Schwimmer leaned dramatic with roles including The People v. O.J. Simpson, while keeping a steady directing career across television and theater.
• Matt LeBlanc flipped the script with Episodes, playing a heightened version of himself. It won him a Golden Globe and reminded everyone he could do more than Joey’s grin.
• The late Matthew Perry delivered serious work in The Ron Clark Story, which earned him both Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.

The Morning Show season 4: where Aniston is now

Season 4 of The Morning Show premiered September 17, 2025 on Apple TV+. Production wrapped in late 2024, and the new ten-episode run is rolling out weekly through November 2025, drawing steady viewership and plenty of industry attention. Aniston is once again front and center and still steering the ship as an executive producer.

This year’s cast mixes returning heavy hitters with some prestige ringers. Billy Crudup and Jon Hamm are back, and Apple brought in Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Irons to stir the pot. That is not a subtle move; it’s the kind of casting that says the streamer wants this to be one of its top-tier, awards-minded series, and Aniston is a big part of why it feels that way. She’s been clear that the show keeps leaning into more complex storytelling, a far cry from where her career started.

If you’re in the mood to revisit the whole arc: Friends is streaming on HBO Max, and The Morning Show is on Apple TV+.