As Entertainment Weekly reports, Friends stars Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer and Lisa Kudrow collectively own the rights to every Friends clip, so no mere call to Warner Bros. could clear the usage. Handmaid’s Tale executive producer Warren Littlefield actually ran NBC Entertainment in the ‘90s, however, and had to personally call representation for Perry, Aniston and Cox to get their approval.
The use still involved a “standard clip license fee,” but who are the Friends to deny a bit of cheer to Gilead?
And now that we think about it – are we sure that cast is okay in this universe?