`Friends” co-star David Schwimmer says he won’t stick around for another season if any of the current cast members decides to move on. All of the current cast’s contracts expire at the end of the season, so there has been much speculation about the future of the most popular comedy on television.
Asked Friday whether the cast would be together down the road, Schwimmer said he wanted it that way, though he said nothing was set in stone.
“I don’t know,” he said. “My hope is that we are. As long as the six of us are having as much fun as we are right now, I think we will. There are a lot of other factors right now. The show will only be around if the six of us are doing it.”
So far there have been no official talks on the cast’s future either with show producer Warner Bros. or among themselves, Schwimmer said.
“The fact is, it’s also a very, very happy environment,” he said. “As long as the writing stays as good as it’s been and as long as the six of us are having as much fun as we are, I’m sure we’ll be around.”
Over the summer, NBC agreed to pay Warner Bros. an estimated $5 million an episode to air the comedy through the 2002 season. But the renewal left open the question of contracts for the cast.
In 1997 the cast banded together to get their salaries increased. Under that deal, each of the six — Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox Arquette — make an estimated $125,000 per episode this season.
Schwimmer acknowledged that the cast makes “a ridiculous” amount of money for the amount of fun they have: “You just have to be incredibly grateful, and we are. It’s all relative.”