This Phoebe And Joey Theory Will Change The Way You See Friends

During a 2016 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Matt LeBlanc revealed that he and Lisa Kudrow wanted to see Phoebe and Joey together so much that they went to the writers to pitch an idea about the characters being friends with benefits. The actor admitted that he and Kudrow wanted to do a storyline that shook up everything that fans knew about the series, and have it be revealed that Phoebe and Joey were hooking up throughout the entirety of the show. 

"Towards the end we actually pitched the idea that Joey and Phoebe had been having casual sex the entire time," LeBlanc said. "We'd go back and shoot all the historical scenes and just before a moment that everyone recognizes, there's Joey and Phoebe coming out of a broom closet together." However, the writers shot down the idea, leading to the fan theory that perhaps the characters did actually have an affair without anyone knowing.

Writer David Crane touched on the subject of Phoebe and Joey's relationship during a 2019 interview with Metro. Crane admitted that it was too predictable and safe for the characters to end up together. "It all would have been too tidy and too complete. When your goal is to keep the six characters' stories together, it would be really easy to go down that road but I think we all felt it would be a mistake," he said. In the end, Phoebe ended up with Mike (Paul Rudd), and the pair were discussing expanding their family by the end of the series. However, the character of Joey was still single at the time of the series finale.