Almost 25 years after making her Friends debut as Ross’s adored companion, Katie the capuchin has landed a role in a post-apocalyptic drama

Is Marcel the monkey from Friends about to make a comeback?

Name: Marcel the monkey.

Age: Mid-to-late 20s.

Appearance: Primed and ready for the Marcel-aissance.

Why is that name familiar to me? Tell me, are you a fan of sitcoms from the 90s?

Of course I am. Then you’ll remember that weird stretch of time when American sitcoms would get commissioned only if there was a quirky animal in the cast. Frasier had Eddie the dog, Will and Grace had Guapo the parrot and Friends had …

Ross’s monkey Marcel! That’s right. Often thought of as the seventh friend, Marcel appeared in eight early Friends episodes, including The One With the Monkey and The One Where the Monkey Gets Away.

Whatever happened to Marcel? Funny you should ask. Marcel was played by a female white-faced capuchin named Katie, who bobbled around the world of TV for a little while after Friends – making appearances on 30 Rock and a little-watched 2006 sitcom called The Loop – before dropping back into relative obscurity.

Same as most of the Friends cast, then. Quite, except for one important factor. Katie may be about to make her television comeback.

She may? Indeed. John Landgraf, the chief executive of the US channel FX, used to work on Friends, and when he was reviewing footage from the pilot of his upcoming post-apocalyptic drama Y: The Last Man, he was struck by a familiar face. “I recognise that monkey!”, he said at an industry party this summer. “There’s nothing like a really experienced actor who knows how to hit their marks!”

And was he right? He was: Katie plays Ampersand, the primate companion of the last man on Earth.

Are you sure Katie hasn’t acted much? I feel like I see her all the time. You’ve probably seen some of the many other monkey actors.

Wasn’t she in The Hangover 2 and the Night at the Museum films? No, that was the wildly successful Crystal, who also had major roles in the sitcoms Community and Animal Practice.

Ah. So we really haven’t seen Ross’s monkey in years? According to IMDb, Katie’s last TV role was in 2013 – although she has found work as a mascot for the LA Angels baseball team.

Well, a comeback after all this time isn’t to be sniffed at. It’s nice to know some areas of the entertainment business are immune to ageism, isn’t it?

Yes, good for Katie. Quite. But there may be a hitch. Although she had a role in the pilot of Y: The Last Man, her job is by no means secure. A recent change of showrunner could mean that, when the series debuts next year, she’ll be replaced with an animated version.

It’s a cruel business. She’s better off out of it, really.

Do say: “This just goes to show that performers really can move on from something as era-defining as Friends.”

Don’t say: “Unless you’re the guy who played Gunther, obviously.”