Seth Rogen has confirmed that he has no plans to work with former friend and co-star James Franco again. The 44-year-old actor, known for his role in Knocked Up, collaborated with Franco, 48, on several hit comedies after they met on the set of Paul Feig's cult 1999 series Freaks and Geeks. Together, they starred in films such as Pineapple Express, This is the End, and The Interview, becoming one of Hollywood's most prominent duos.
Their professional partnership ended in 2018 after five women, four of whom were former acting students of Franco, accused him of sexually exploitative behavior. A year later, two of those women filed a lawsuit claiming that Franco engaged in widespread inappropriate and sexually charged behavior towards female students by leveraging his power as a teacher and employer. Franco settled the case in 2021 for $2.23 million.
Since then, Rogen and Franco have not worked together. In a recent interview with the New York Times, Rogen described the situation as a very personal matter. He stated, "There is the public-facing side of it, which I have spoken about, and I have the same stance publicly that I have had, and I think the proof is in the pudding — I have not worked with him in years. But the personal side of it is just so nuanced, and it involves people that I do not know if I should be dragging into this. I do not know what I would benefit from getting deeply into it."
Rogen added, "Nothing has changed since the last time I talked about all this, and I have not worked with him in a really long time and I have no plans to." When asked if he still communicates with Franco, Rogen clarified, "I have not talked to him in a long time, no."
The pair have not collaborated since the release of The Disaster Artist in 2017, which Franco directed and Rogen produced. Rogen previously indicated in 2018 that he would consider working with Franco again once the dust had settled, but by 2021, his stance had shifted. He told the Sunday Times' Culture Magazine in 2021, "What I can say is that I despise abuse and harassment and I would never cover or conceal the actions of someone doing it, or knowingly put someone in a situation where they were around someone like that." He added, "I look back to that interview in 2018 where I comment that I would keep working with James, and the truth is that I have not and I do not plan to do it right now."
In a 2024 interview with Variety, Rogen said their friendship was all but over. Asked if he was still in touch with Franco, he replied, "No. I have not talked to Seth." Franco added, "I love Seth, we had 20 great years together, but I guess it is over. And not for lack of trying. I have told him how much he has meant to me."
Franco had accused plaintiffs Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal of being "attention-hungry" and making "false and inflammatory" claims for publicity. However, he later agreed to a settlement, describing himself as "not clearheaded" when he slept with students at his acting school. He stressed that he did not start the school to lure women for sexual purposes. In 2021, he said on The Jess Cagle Podcast, "I suppose at the time, my thinking was 'if it is consensual, OK.' At the time I was not clearheaded."
Since then, Franco has quietly returned to the screen with Claudio Giovannesi's gritty drama Hey Joe and the Italian-American superhero film Bunny-Man. It was recently confirmed that he will appear in the 2027 prequel John Rambo in a villainous role.
