A lot of actors compare their time on a TV set to summer camp, where they form a close connection due to proximity and the amount of time they spend together. But, much like summer, shows eventually and cast members go their separate ways.
However, that doesn't always mean the fierce friendships that were forged during the series' run come to an end, as several co-star pairs have proven over time.
Fifteen years ago, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul met on the set of AMC's Breaking Bad. Known for his comedic turn on Malcolm in the Middle, Cranston was entering a new era of an already impressive career, while Paul was just making a name for himself in Hollywood. Together, they helped make what would eventually be considered one of TV's all-time great shows— and, along the way, they became best friends.
"The moment I met Bryan, I instantly fell in love with the man," Paul said during his speech when Cranston received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in July 2013. "I mean, how could you not? He's charming, he's brilliant, and he's a beautiful human being inside and out who is constantly running around in his underwear making people laugh."
"Breaking Bad would not be the same without this man. Let's be honest, television would not be the same without this man," Paul continued. "But I'm here to tell you all that I, personally, would not be the same without this man." Forget science, yeah friendship, b--ch!
Cranston and Paul aren't the only co-stars to become BFFs, with pairings from Friends, Dawson's Creek and The Vampire Diaries all becoming #friendshipgoals over the years. Check out these acting duos who remained close—even going into business together and becoming godparents to each other's children—after cameras stopped rolling...
Unlike their onscreen counterparts, the vibes were very good between Cranston and Paul when they began filming their critically acclaimed AMC series Breaking Bad.
"I instantly fell in love with this man," Paul told Esquire in the pair's joint cover story for the January 2022 issue. "He's impossible not to love." Paul went onto say that Cranston became "one of my closest friends— my mentor—very early on" in the show's run. Cranston is also the godfather of his second child, son Ryden Caspian, with his wife Lauren Paul.
After Breaking Bad ended, Cranston and Paul teamed up once again in 2019 to launch a Mezcal line called Dos Hombres. In their Esquire interview, Cranston was quick to credit Paul as the "brains" of their business venture.
"He started it all. It was his idea," Cranston said. "He knows more about business than I do. Someone has to be the cover girl, and that's me."
Oft-cited as the gold standard of co-stars turned best friends, the Friends duo instantly connected when they were cast on the iconic NBC series in 1994. They famously ate lunch together every day during the show's decade-long run, Aniston is the godmother of Cox's daughter Coco Arquette and Cox was there for Aniston when her marriage to Brad Pitt fell apart in 2005.
"There's absolutely no judgment in Court," Aniston gushed to More magazine in 2014 for a profile on her friend. "You'll never feel scolded. She's extremely fair, ridiculously loyal and fiercely loving."
She added, "I've slept in her guest bedroom a lot. Without giving away too much of my private stuff, all I can say is she's been there for me through thick and thin."
But it's not just hard times that the best friends have shared, with Cox telling TV Week in 2010, "We just have fun, we laugh, we're inseparable and it's great."
Just call them blood brothers.
After spending eight seasons as brooding vampires Damon and Stefan Salvatore, Somerhalder and Wesley weren't ready to put a stake in their relationship. So, they launched Brother's Bond Bourbon in 2020, referencing their characters' drink of choice that eventually bled into their off-set after-hour hangouts as the inspiration for their liquor brand.
Already used to being "attached at the hip," according to Wesley in a 2021 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, in their TVD days, their company lead them to the "2.0" phase of their lives. Somerhalder added, "This is gonna be another decade together."
And, like their beloved characters, Somerhalder and Wesley's differences blending together make for a potent pairing.
"Ian is an eternal optimist and I'm an eternal pessimist," Wesley explained. "We balance each other out in so many ways—he'll go big, and then I'll bring him down a little sometimes, when it's necessary."
Forget Joey and Pacey, and Joey and Dawson, because Williams and Phillipps were the true love story of Dawson's Creek. The actresses became close when Philipps joined the WB series in 2001.
"Someone had said, 'When you two meet, there is going to be a chemical reaction,'" Williams recalled in a 2018 interview with People. "I had been really excited for this girl to land in Wilmington. We became inseparable and I fell in love with her."
And their time working together on the series was formative.
"My memory of being with her then doesn't have anything to do with the show or working, but it was on our time off," Philipps told Entertainment Weekly. "It was talking on the porch all night long and it was back when bread was still okay to eat. It was copious amounts of bread. That's what I remember: an endless conversation over multiple bread baskets."
In the years since Dawson's Creek ended in 2003, they have remained one of Hollywood's closest pair of friends, and it was Philipps who rushed to Williams' Brooklyn row home after her former partner Heath Ledger was found dead in his apartment of an accidental overdose in 2008.
"I said to her recently, 'You have really saved me from ever being lonely because you are always right there,'" Williams told People in 2018. "We are so close and can tell each other everything. I don't know what I would be or who I would be without Busy."
Philipps, who is godmother to Matlida Ledger, was Williams' go-to date to award shows for years, with each experience reminding the duo how far they have come.
"I think for her, and for me too, to have each other by our sides as we go through this process, and when she's been nominated, or on other red carpets that we've done together, or events, it's just great to have somebody that can be your touchstone for reality," Philipps explained to Elle. "Maybe I'm giving away a secret, but we always try right before we get to one of these red carpets to just look at each other and say, 'Don't forget how lucky we are. This is our life now.'"
House Stark forever!
While Sansa and Arya may not have always had the best sister relationship, Turner and Williams forged an unbreakable bond when they began filming the HBO series, with Turner calling them "pretty much best friends" from the moment they wrapped their chemistry read.
That feeling was mutual. "I thought Sophie was the coolest thing I'd ever seen," Maisie recalled to Rolling Stone. "I get why they do chemistry reads, because when it's right, it's so right. Like, we're best friends. And they could see that all those years ago, and it must have been real magic watching these two girls have the best time together."
As they grew up in front of the world, the two relied on each other to deal with the pitfalls that come with fame.
"Maisie is definitely my protector and I'm hers, too," Turner told Glamour UK. "I know if anything happened...she'd go crazy and protect me." Williams echoed the sentiment, sharing, "She really helped me through some messy breakups and some friend breakups."
To commemorate their bond, the duo got matching tattoos of the date they both learned they had been cast on GoT.
"She's one of my best friends in the whole world," Sophie, who had Maisie serve as maid of honor at her 2019 wedding to Joe Jonas, previously told E! News. "With Thrones, we were always planning, from season one, like if we make it all the way through, hopefully we could all get a matching thing."
It's hard to imagine two people having more fun than JD and Turk on Scrubs, but, it turns out, their real-life counterparts have even better banter IRL than they did on the NBC medical sitcom.
Braff and Faison met for the first time at the table read for the show, with Faison admitting in a 2020 interview with BUILD Series that the moment reminded him of the feeling he got meeting his wife for the first time. "That was exactly the energy we felt when we met," Faison said. "He is my best friend. It is legit when I say this." The pair went onto live together in New York City after Scrubs' first season, which, he said, "cemented it. That's when we knew we were going to be together forever."
While Scrubs ended in 2010, the best friends professionally reunited during the pandemic to launch their podcast, Fake Doctors, Real Friends, which quickly became a hit. The two now live just a few streets away from each other in Los Angeles, according to GQ, and Faison married his wife Cacee Cobb at best man Braff's home in 2012.
Much to the delight of their fans, The Office alums and real-life exes are always quick to make light of their "complicated" personal and professional relationship, even taking the stage at the 2022 Emmys for a hilarious bit.
Even though their romance fizzled in 2007, Kaling and Novak grew even closer as confidants.
"He is a wonderful friend and he's godparent of both of my kids and he loves children and they're so attached to him," Kaling explained on The Drew Barrymore Show last year. "He's really a part of our family. But we've known each other for a long, long time."
Mindy continued, "I think anyone who's been friends with someone for 18, 19 years and at one point dated and now doesn't, they maybe understand this."
While their characters clashed throughout Veronica Mars' three-season run, Bell and Hansen quickly became best friends when they met in 2004.
"I have known Ryan Hansen since we were baby-people," Bell wrote in an Instagram post for Hansen's birthday in 2021. "He was my arch-nemesis on Veronica Mars, but became my best friend in real life. After VMars we became roommates, and (self-proclaimed) brothers. We hang out almost every day because we love hanging out together."
Hansen is the godfather to Bell's two daughters with Dax Shepard, and his wife, Amy Hansen, was the witness at their 2013 wedding. Their families often go on vacations together and were in each other's COVID pods during the pandemic, leading Bell to dub the group "super spouses."
"To say I love having him in my life is an understatement," The Good Place star wrote in another birthday tribute to Hansen. "I simply would not be the person I am today without his friendship and the people he has brought into my life." What a Marshmallow.
Jonathan Groff isn't the only co-star that became one of Michele's closest friends as the Glee star formed a close bond with Criss when he joined the Fox musical's cast in its second season, even going on tour together in 2018.
"Darren's spontaneity really does push me to do things I would never do before, and it really builds up my confidence a lot, whether or not he knows that," Michele told Billboard at the time. "So I'm very grateful for him and his friendship. We're both very ambitious people, so this just feels like a very natural thing for us to be doing in our careers and in our friendship. And it feels great to feel like I'm getting to see a different side of myself along the way."
The pair enjoy a sibling dynamic, with Criss admitting to The Los Angeles Times that making fun of Michele is "one of my favorite pasttimes, because I love Lea and care about her and am inspired by her talent. And that just makes her more susceptible to my joking."
And when Michele made her triumphant return to Broadway in Funny Girl in October 2022, Criss and his wife, Mia, were in the audience to support her.
"The amount of times this guy has seen me sing 'Don't Rain On My Parade,'" Michele later captioned an Instagram post of the sweet moment. "I love you @darrencriss and @miavoncriss."