Matthew Perry tragically died on Oct. 28 at the age of 54, and has been remembered for his humor-filled and sensitive portrait of his beloved Friends character Chandler Bing.
But what we didn't know until now is just how much influence Perry ended up having on the course of the show as a whole: According to a one-time Friends guest star, the actor was solely responsible for blocking a storyline which had Chandler cheating on Monica during season 5 in Las Vegas.
This was a move which Perry reportedly felt would ruin the audience's relationship with Chandler, and would be too hard to come back from, per Lisa Cash, who ended up playing a small role as a flight attendant instead of the original role for which she had been booked.
"I came in as a guest star on Friends, and I was super excited," Cash told TMZ.
"Basically, the scene was: Chandler and Monica were arguing in Vegas about Monica having lunch with Richard.
"Initially in our script, Chandler goes up to the hotel room, orders room service, and I bring it up as a hotel worker, and we end up talking and laughing and connecting, and Chandler ends up cheating on Monica with my character.
"We had rehearsed it and everything and then the day before we were shooting in front of a live audience, I was told that Chandler went to the writers and said the audience will never forgive him for cheating on Monica, which—he was probably right. That would have changed possibly the course of the show and of his character."
Instead, Cash ended up playing "the costarring role as a flight attendant with Ross and Rachel."
The actress also revealed how "likable and welcoming" Perry was when they were rehearsing their scene together. "It was just easy doing the scene with him," she said. "That was just such a tribute to him, you know, for making me feel comfortable with him like that."
Commenting on the ultimate decision for Chandler not to cheat on Monica, Cash said, "I think it was a good move, because they had that other thing with Ross and Rachel, like 'we were on a break,' but Chandler and Monica weren't on a break.
"This was a decision that he was gonna make to cheat on her. I mean, in the moment and everything, but I don't think the audience could have really forgiven that."
It would certainly have been very hard to come back from for Friends fans, yep.
