Seth Rogen Says Stance On James Franco Has Not Changed After 20-Year Friendship Ended

Seth Rogen has made it clear that his position on James Franco has not shifted, even after being asked again about the former friend and longtime collaborator in a new interview.

The two actors were once one of the more familiar comedy partnerships in Hollywood, working together on projects including Freaks and Geeks, Pineapple Express, Sausage Party, and The Interview. Their friendship ended after Franco was accused of sexual misconduct in 2018, when the Los Angeles Times published claims from five young women who said Franco had behaved sexually inappropriately while mentoring them at his acting school.

Two of those women later sued Franco, and the case was settled outside of court in 2021. Since then, Rogen has kept a clear distance from Franco, both personally and professionally.

After the allegations became public, Franco stepped back from the spotlight for a long stretch. His once-close relationship with Rogen also appeared to disappear completely.

Rogen has spoken before about no longer being in contact with Franco, but he has rarely gone into detail about the personal side of that split.

That is part of what makes his latest comments stand out. He did not offer a dramatic new story about the end of the friendship, but he did make it clear that the distance between them remains in place.

The actor and director offered a rare comment Franco in a recent interview Thibaud MORITZ / AFP via Getty Images

Why Rogen chose his words carefully

The friendship was not only private. It was also tied to years of public work, which makes the fallout harder to separate from their careers.

Rogen and Franco were linked in the minds of many fans because they appeared together so often. That means any comment from Rogen about Franco is not just about one friendship ending, but about a whole creative partnership that no longer exists.

That may be why Rogen kept returning to how personal and nuanced the situation feels to him. He seemed careful not to turn the interview into a full retelling of someone else’s pain or a public argument with Franco.

Rogen has now given a rare update on where things stand, telling The New York Times' The Daily podcast that he has no plans to work with Franco again.

When Lulu Garcia-Navarro asked about the situation, Rogen paused before answering and said: "I'm trying to think how much I want to personally share about this."

"I honestly think the nuance of it is too personal for me to get into right now," he continued.

"It is a very personal thing, and I think there's like the public-facing side of it, which I've spoken about, and I have the same stance publicly that I've had."

Rogen then explained that he did not want to say too much about the private side of his falling-out with Franco, because it 'involves people that I don't know if I should be dragging into this'.

Even while keeping those details private, he still repeated the main point clearly: his stance toward Franco has not changed.

Rogen and Franco in The Pineapple Express Columbia Pictures

"Nothing has changed really since the last time I talked about all this," he said.

"I haven't worked with him in a really long time, and I have no plans to."

When asked about whether he had any contact with Franco away from the public eye, Rogen confirmed that there had been no quiet reconciliation behind the scenes either.

"I haven't talked to him in a long time, no," he added.

Rogen had already distanced himself from Franco after the allegations first came to light. Speaking to The Sunday Times at the time, he said: "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."

"I also 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 right now."

Franco previously revealed that he and Rogen were no longer speaking Paul Archuleta/Getty Images

How the working relationship changed

Rogen’s comments make the professional side of the split very clear. Whatever their past friendship looked like, he does not see Franco as someone he plans to share a set with again.

That matters because the pair were not occasional co-stars. Their names were tied together across TV, film, animation, and comedy, so the end of that working relationship marked a real break in both of their public careers.

Rogen also appears to be drawing a line between private feelings and public choices. He did not give every detail about what happened between them, but he was direct about the outcome: no contact and no plans to collaborate.

Meanwhile, Franco has been looking toward a possible return to Hollywood. During a recent appearance at Cannes, he said he was set to appear in an undisclosed Hollywood production during 'spring-summer 2027'.

Franco’s planned return also lines up with his first major studio role in years, a comeback that is still tied to the misconduct allegations and lawsuit that changed how many people see him.

Franco also pushed back against the idea that he had been 'hiding away' in recent years, telling Deadline: "It's not true I've been hiding out."

Franco says he has still been around the industry

Franco’s view of the past few years is different from the idea that he vanished completely. He has argued that he has still been present at festivals and around film circles, even if he has not been as visible in major studio releases.

"I've been here the last three or four years running, selling things, and they treat me well, and I get to go and see great movies."

That makes Rogen’s comments land at a complicated time. Franco is talking about moving forward with his career, while Rogen is making it clear that their old partnership is not part of that future.

When Franco was asked whether he felt the industry had treated him unfairly, he answered: "I don't know. What am I going to do? I just go forward and try to live a positive life."

Rogen, for his part, does not seem interested in reopening the friendship or the working partnership that once made them one of comedy’s most recognizable duos.

For now, the clearest answer is the one he gave directly: he has not worked with Franco in years, he has not spoken to him in a long time, and he does not plan to work with him again.