Marcel, the monkey from Friends, could be coming back to TV
Marcel the monkey is going to be there for you once more.
The capuchin monkey, named Katie in real life, is poised to return to television, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Reportedly now in her mid to late 20s, the monkey has been cast as a primate companion for Barry Keoghan’s Yorick Brown on FX’s forthcoming Y: The Last Man on Earth.
And the first person to notice it was FX CEO John Landgraf, who worked on Friends during his time running the current department at NBC in the ’90s. “I recognize Jennifer Aniston, I recognize Courteney Cox, and I recognize that monkey!” THR says Landgraf joked at the FX party during the Television Critics Association summer press tour. “There’s nothing like a really experienced actor who knows how to hit their marks!”
Landgraf was right. THR confirmed with the monkey’s trainer that it is, in fact, the same primate. The capuchin is swapping genders for the screen in Y: The Last Man on Earth, just as she did for Friends. This time she’ll portray Ampersand, the only other male mammal besides the titular Yorick Brown. Together, they’re on a mission to uncover why Earth’s male population has been wiped out.
It remains unclear if Katie will continue on the show — Y: The Last Man on Earth has seen a major shift at the top with Eliza Clark replacing showrunners Aida Croal and Michael Green. The series is set to debut sometime in 2020.
Hopefully, Keogan appreciates Katie a bit more than her former television costar, David Schwimmer. Though Marcel was a fan favorite, Schwimmer reportedly reserved his affection for the animal for on-camera moments only. “I liked the monkey!” Matt LeBlanc told Jimmy Kimmel. “I like animals, and the monkey was really cool. Schwimmer… Not so much. He’s the one that had to work with it the most, so he was like, ‘Again with the monkey?’ But I got along great with it.”
Katie has been working as a trained primate for the last few decades, briefly serving as the Angels baseball team’s Rally Monkey among other gigs.
Representatives for FX did not respond immediately to EW’s request for comment.
Read the original story at THR here.
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