Leave the World Behind director Sam Esmail responds to the paradox within his new Netflix movie involving Julia Roberts and the sitcom Friends.

SUMMARY

 Leave the World Behind director Sam Esmail explains the Friends paradox in the movie, suggesting that Rose recognized Julia Roberts on the show but disregarded the resemblance since it wasn’t her real mother.
 The inclusion of Friends in the film highlights Rose’s attachment to the sitcom and serves as an early sign of the impending collapse of civilization.
 Esmail’s comments clarify that while the actors in the movie are from our reality, the world of the film is slightly different, allowing Rose to distinguish Julia Roberts on Friends from her actual mother.

Leave the World Behind director Sam Esmail responds to Julia Roberts’ Friends paradox. The film, based on Rumaan Alam’s 2020 novel, depicts two families in their effort to survive, and understand, the sudden collapse of civilization. Along with Roberts, the cast of Leave the World Behind includes Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Myha’la, Charlie Evans, Farrah Mackenzie, and Kevin Bacon. Early on, the Netflix movie established that Rose (Mackenzie) enjoyed watching Friends and was intent on finishing the show despite the blackout. This raises the question of how she failed to recognize her mother, though, since Roberts guest starred on the sitcom.

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Esmail discussed the Friends paradox and suggested that Rose might have made a connection, but didn’t say anything. He explained that because the movie’s world is different, Rose would have known Roberts wasn’t really her mother. Read Esmail’s comments regarding the Friends paradox in Leave the World Behind below:
“The universe I create for these movies is slightly off from our reality. They have to be, obviously. They’re being performed by actors that are in our world. So my meta, convoluted explanation is that when Rose is watching Friends and she sees Julia on it, she sees a passing resemblance to her mother, but obviously shrugs it off because it’s not her mom.”

Leave The World Behind’s Friends Paradox Explained

Because of Rose’s fascination with the sitcom, Friends became a large part of Leave the World Behind. Her inability to resume the show served as an early indication that something may be happening, although the severity of the situation was unknown at the time. When things took a turn for the worse, Rose admitted that she cared about the characters on Friends and fled to a nearby house, where she found a bunker with electricity and DVDs of the full series.

As mentioned, Roberts actually appeared on Friends, portraying Susie Moss in the season 2 episode, “The One After the Superbowl.” Her character, a former schoolmate of Chandler’s, reconnected with him and eventually stole his clothes as payback for a fourth grade incident.

Given that Rose had watched nearly all of Friends, she likely would have spotted the similarities to Amanda (Roberts). Leave the World Behind doesn’t address that paradox, but Esmail’s comments should be enough to satisfy viewers’ questions now.

It’s interesting to think of Roberts as a possible in-universe actor when watching her play another role in Leave the World Behind. This sort of plot hole happens quite frequently with popular actors, and there usually isn’t a story-specific reason for it.

Most of the time, it can be simply glossed over, but considering how quickly the Friends paradox in this movie caught on among audiences, it’s a good thing that Esmail addressed it.