Matt LeBlanc’s TV Comeback History, Explained

Friends star Matt LeBlanc is returning to TV with his first role in five years — and it’s not his first comeback. Let’s take a closer look at his history of taking breaks and then jumping back into show business.

After Friends and its spinoff Joey (2004–2006), LeBlanc took a break from acting that lasted longer than originally planned.

“My plan was, it was 10 years of Friends, and then I did two years of Joey, and then I said, ‘Right, I’m gonna take a year off, I wanna take a year off and just relax,'” he recalled during an appearance on the Skavlan. “I had such a good time, I said, ‘I’m gonna take another one,’ right? And then that one was even better. So I said, ‘Maybe one more!’ And then it turned into five or six years.”

Ultimately, LeBlanc returned to TV in 2011 for the series Episodes, in which he played a fictionalized version of himself. The show ended in 2017, and he jumped right into his sitcom Man With a Plan, which ended after four seasons in 2020. In 2021, he appeared in the Friends reunion special on HBO Max and an episode of Top Gear.

LeBlanc kept a low profile after that. But fast-forward to February 2026, and fans were delighted when LeBlanc unexpectedly resurfaced for a star-studded Super Bowl commercial alongside his Friends costar, Jennifer Aniston, in February 2026.

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Now, LeBlanc is set to make a second TV comback. For the 2027–28 season (if it gets picked up as a series), CBS ordered the writing of scripts for a show tentatively titled Flint. LeBlanc will both star in the series and serve as an executive producer, while CBS Studios and Jerry Bruckheimer Television will produce the show.

A synopsis for the show reads, “FLINT tells the story of a burnt-out LAPD detective who, on the verge of retirement, is blindsided when the city extends his service by five years. Determined to get fired, he breaks rules and disobeys orders, which, to his dismay, makes him an even better cop.”

Friends aired for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBC. In addition to LeBlanc, who played Joey Tribbiani, and Aniston, who played Rachel Green, the beloved sitcom starred Courteney Cox as Monica Geller, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, and David Schwimmer as Ross Geller.

What do you think of LeBlanc’s latest return to TV after an extended break?

Friends, streaming on HBO Max