Friends is turning 25 years old next month, meaning we’re about to be bombarded with a nostalgia overload, as well as cruel reminders that the central sextet has aged remarkably well. We’ll even be seeing one of its critter cast members, and not only on some cast reunion. Yes, Marcel — the capuchin monkey that befriended Ross Gellar but was a terror to his portrayer, David Schwimmer — will be back on the small screen for the first time in ages, this time on FX’s forthcoming TV take on Y: The Last Man.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, this wasn’t intentional. FX CEO John Landgraf happened to be looking at the dailies for their adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan’s beloved comic — which will star Dunkirk’s Barry Keoghan as, well, the last man on earth after the male population is mysteriously wiped out — when he recognized the pet monkey famous from the comic’s covers. Landgraf worked on Friends when he worked at NBC, and sure enough, it was Katie, the monkey who portrayed Marcel on 13 separate episodes.
THR confirmed that Landgraf was right, learning that Katie is in her mid-twenties and that capuchin monkeys can live as long as 40. Her other credits include the short-lived mid-aughts sitcom The Loop, an episode of the tween show Sam & Cat, and the Season 3 30 Rock episode “The Natural Order,” in which Jack learns his mother is seeing a married man.
Now for some potentially sad news: Katie has so far only filmed the pilot. There’s been some changes since then, including swapping showrunners, and it’s unclear if she’ll be back. Either way, it’s good to hear Katie’s doing well, and she’ll almost certainly be seen at some point during the Friends anniversary glut.
(Via THR)
